Quality & Safety

It's one of the biggest achievements a hospital or medical center can earn. An A by The Leapfrog Group indicates excellent work by health care facilities to protect patients' safety.

I think we can agree that there's no more important priority for a hospital than the ability to assure our patients that when they come here, they're going to be treated in a safe environment and that they're going to receive the highest quality patient care.

U Chicago Medicine continually works to improve patient safety. Safety stations are spread all around the facility, and staff is required to protect patients from the spread of flu. These are just a few examples of the many efforts to protect against the spread of infection.

There's a foundational culture that you can see every day amongst all members of the team that really, I think, supports the success that we've had in the quality and safety of the care we provide.

All staff members play an important role in patient safety. Everyone realizes the goal of protecting those that we care for. And we all take this responsibility seriously.

I think there's a real level of pride in providing that type of care, high-quality, safe care to patients. It's something that it makes sense to do.

Front line care is critical to patient safety, and that includes our nursing staff. Nurses often provide the link between the bedside and physicians.

I think the Leap Frog designation really speaks to the work that all of the nurses are doing every single day to make sure that our patients are safe, and it's really what we're here for.

The nursing team is one area of strength when it comes to patient safety, heading off problems before they happen. For example, they work to prevent pressure ulcers and communicate patient feedback to physicians and other caregivers throughout the facility.

So it's really evidence of all of the work that we've done across the medical center to make sure that patient safety is a priority, and specifically, looking at nursing interventions and making sure that we put evidence-based practice in across the medical center for each patient.

It all adds up to world class, high-quality care that is synonymous with the U Chicago Medicine name and reputation.

What this indicates is that we're all committed to providing the best quality care to our patients, to providing a safe environment. It should be a source of great pride. It's a huge accomplishment, and I'd like to congratulate all of you on an outstanding job.