Northwest Hospital & Medical Center Earns Distinguished Hospital Award for Pati...( 2008 HealthGrades study puts Nort...),Health

2008 HealthGrades study puts Northwest Hospital among top 5% of safest hospitals in the U.S.

SEATTLE, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Northwest Hospital & Medical Center today announced that it has again been named among the top 5% of hospitals in the U.S. for patient safety based on a study by HealthGrades(R), the nation's leading healthcare ratings company. As a result of its findings, HealthGrades has recognized Northwest Hospital with the 2008 Distinguished Hospital Award for Patient Safety(TM). It is the second year in a row the hospital has received this distinction.

Northwest Hospital is one of only 249 organizations in the nation, and one of only nine in Washington State to receive the award for 2008.

In its fifth annual "Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study," HealthGrades independently analyzed almost 41 million Medicare patient records from nearly 5000 nonfederal hospitals over a three-year period, using 13 patient safety indicators developed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The 13 patient safety indicators measured included:

-- Death in illness or medical procedure categories that typically have a low mortality rate

-- Decubitus ulcer (pressure or bed sore)

-- Failure to rescue

-- Foreign body left in during procedure

-- Iatrogenic pneumothorax (collapsed lung)

-- Selected infections due to medical care

-- Post-operative hip fracture

-- Post-operative hemorrhage or hematoma

-- Post-operative physiologic and metabolic derangements, or complications

-- Post-operative respiratory failure

-- Post-operative pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis (blood clot)

-- Post-operative sepsis (bacterial infection of the blood stream)

-- Post-operative abdominal wound dehiscence (rupture)

The analysis showed that Northwest Hospital had one of the lowest patient-safety incident rates amo
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