SURGICAL INFECTION PREVENTION MEASURES

Hospitals can reduce the risk of wound infection after surgery by making sure patients get the right medicines at the right time on the day of surgery.  These quality measures show some of the standards of care.

 

INTERPRETING THE DATA:

 

Be careful when drawing conclusions from this information. Small numbers of patients may distort reported performance.

What does the fraction mean in all of the reports?
The denominator represents all those patients who were medically eligible to receive the particular treatment. The numerator represents all those patients who actually received the particular treatment for which they were medically qualified.
For example:

Aspirin at Arrival: 80%; 8/10
This means that 10 patients were medically eligible to receive an aspirin on arrival to the hospital and 8 patients actually received it. If a patient is allergic to aspirin, that patient would NOT be part of the denominator. “0/0” means that no patients were medically eligible to receive that particular treatment.
Data Report Period: Discharges January through September 2005:
  Prophylactic Antibiotic
Received within 1 Hour
Prior to Surgery		 Prophylactic Antibiotic Discontinued within 24 Hours After Surgery Composite Score
Click "Define" for expanded explanation
of the term above it		 Define Define Define
National Average 80%
103780/129704		 67%
81466/121315		 N/A
State Average 83%
1395/1685		 75%
1208/1615		 65%
1231/1907
Achievable Benchmark
(Represents the average performance achieved by the top hospitals in the U.S.)		 96%
12635/13099		 95%
11745/12402		 N/A
Brattleboro Memorial Hospital 74%
95/128		 91%
106/117		 66%
85/128
Central Vermont Medical Center 95%
148/155		 79%
118/150		 75%
117/156
Copley Hospital 81%
70/86		 47%
40/85		 41%
36/87
Fletcher Allen Health Care 83%
415/500		 83%
397/481		 69%
346/503
Gifford Medical Center 93%
27/29		 73%
19/26		 69%
20/29
Grace Cottage Hospital 0/0 0/0 0/0
Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center 88%
35/40		 48%
19/40		 45%
18/40
North Country Hospital 96%
46/48		 85%
40/47		 81%
39/48
Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital 56%
42/75		 59%
43/73		 34%
26/76
Northwestern Medical Center 70%
97/138		 30%
41/138		 22%
31/139
Porter Hospital 88%
102/116		 82%
93/113		 72%
84/116
Rutland Regional Medical Center 79%
254/322		 87%
264/303		 70%
226/322
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center 88%
153/173		 78%
123/157		 72%
124/173
Springfield Hospital 90%
81/90		 98%
87/89		 88%
79/90
VA Medical Center 34%
16/47		 90%
47/52		 N/A

Would you like to see a further source of hospital performance data? 
See Vermont information on the "Hospital Compare" website.
"Hospital Compare" was developed in conjunction with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), an agency under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA). "Hospital Compare" shows measures based on data from hospitals' patient records. The data is converted to rates that measure how well hospitals care for their patients.

The table format, measure descriptions and definition of "Achievable Benchmark" were developed by the New Hampshire-based Foundation for Healthy Communities. The Northeast Healthcare Quality Foundation provided the data analysis. The Vermont Department of Banking, Insurance, Securities and Health Care Administration expresses its gratitude to both organizations.