Patient Safety and Quality Measures on gbmc.org

Healthcare today is an extremely complex process that is sometimes imperfect. Incidence of harm in healthcare is a national concern, and GBMC believes that its patients have a right to know how the organization is performing in relation to patient safety. The organization has made a commitment to be transparent about its efforts to provide safe, reliable care and recently launched a new page on its website, gbmc.org, which displays key patient safety and quality data. Included on the publically viewable website are metrics such as hand hygiene, infections, patient satisfaction and quality care measures.

For example, patients who are planning a surgical procedure or expecting a hospital stay in the near future may have concerns about the possibility of acquiring an infection during their visit. Proper hand hygiene is the number one way to prevent healthcare-associated infections and the transmission of disease. GBMC’s Patient Safety and Quality Measures web page illustrates (in text and video) the ways in which GBMC monitors hand hygiene compliance and outlines the standards that all patient care personnel are expected to meet. It also provides a chart that shows how GBMC’s recent and current hand hygiene performance compares to the Maryland average. Having this type of information readily available can be valuable to patients as they research which hospital to entrust their health and well being. If a patient already knows that he or she will be coming to GBMC, it is hoped that reviewing the patient safety and quality measures data before coming to the hospital will also offer reassurance during a stressful time.

To view the information and metrics, visit www.gbmc.org/quality. Any questions regarding the information may be addressed to GBMC using the form at the bottom of the web page. Or, contact Carolyn Candiello, Vice President, Quality and Patient Safety, at ccandiello@gbmc.org.