Meadows Regional Receives ‘A’ Health Safety Rating, Improves from ‘F’ in 2015

Fifteen Georgia hospitals scored an “A’’ grade on patient safety in the latest Leapfrog Group report.

The ratings, which were released on Tuesday, show that rougly one-fifth of the state’s hospitals evaluated received an ‘A’ grade, up slightly from 2017 but still below the national average of 30% of state hospitals receiving A grades. Among those who made the list was Meadows Regional Hospital in Vidalia.

The ‘A’ grade is an improvement from the previous B grade from 2017, ‘C’ grades from 2016, and ‘F’ grade from 2015.

Where the hospital excelled:

• Prevention of C. diff infection which occurs in patients taking or having recently taken antibiotics, and fully killing the bacteria in an infected patient can be very difficult. C. diff can spread via contaminated equipment or by providers who fail to properly wash their hands between patients.
• Prevention of UTIs
• Preventing patient falls
• Prevention of parts in left in patients after surgery
• Preventing accidental cuts and tears after surgery
• Communication about medicines
• Communication about discharge
• Staff working together to prevent errors
• Effective leadership to prevent errors
• Enough qualified nurses
• Communication with doctors

Where the hospital needs improvement:

• Infection at sugery sites after surgery
• Wounds from surgery splitting open
• Death from treatable serious complications
• Collapsed lungs post-surgery
• Serious breathing problems after surgery
• Dangerous blood clots after surgery
• Handwashing practices
• Dangerous bed sores
• Tracking and reducing risks to patient

Meadows Regional did not report information to LeapFrog on:

• MRSA infections and the prevention of such
• Prevention of infections in the blood

Locally, East Georgia Regional Medical Center in Statesboro received a ‘D’ grade, once again declining in health ratings from previous years.

You can see Meadows full score card by clicking here.