Christiana Care recognized for excellence in surgical patient care by American College of Surgeons

Christiana Care recognized for excellence in surgical patient care by American College of Surgeons

Dr. Gretchen Makai performing surgery
Gretchen Makai, M.D., director of minimally-invasive gynecologic surgery at Christiana Care’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, performs surgery at Christiana Hospital. Christiana Care has been recognized by the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program as one of 37 hospitals in the United States achieving meritorious outcomes.

Christiana Care Health System has been recognized as one of 37 hospitals in the nation achieving “meritorious” outcomes for surgical patient care.

The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) recognized Christiana Care for clinical excellence in nine areas:

  • Mortality.
  • Unplanned intubation.
  • Ventilator more than 48 hours.
  • Renal failure.
  • DVT (deep vein thrombosis, thrombophlebitis and pulmonary embolism).
  • Cardiac incidents (cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction).
  • Respiratory (pneumonia).
  • SSI (surgical site infections-superficial and deep incisional and organ-space SSIs).
  • Urinary tract infection.

Christiana Care is the only hospital in the Delaware Valley to receive this recognition.

“This honor from the American College of Surgeons reflects the dedication of our physicians, nurses and support staff to partner with our patients to provide expert, compassionate care,” said Gerald Fulda, M.D., interim chair and director, surgical  critical care.

ACS NSQIP is a major program of the American College of Surgeons and is in use in more than 500 hospitals.

As a participant in ACS NSQIP, Christiana Care is required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and collect data that directs patient safety and the quality of surgical-care improvements.

Christiana Care ranks among the top 24 hospitals in the nation in the number of surgical procedures, performing more than 40,000 each year, according to data from the American Hospital Association. Surgeries range from common to highly complex, minimally invasive and robotic procedures.

Christiana Care achieved the distinction based on its outstanding composite quality score in the nine clinical areas. Risk-adjusted data from the July 2013 ACS NSQIP Semiannual Report, which presents data from the 2012 calendar year, determined which hospitals demonstrated meritorious outcomes.

ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. The program measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively and risk-adjusts patient characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels.

The goal of ACS NSQIP is to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure) and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the “best scientific evidence” to the practice of surgery. Furthermore, when adverse effects from surgical procedures are reduced or eliminated, a reduction in health care costs follows.

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College has more than 74,000 members and it is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.

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