Springfield hospital receives “D” on Leapfrog Group safety grade report
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Middle Tennessee hospital has received a low safety grade from The Leapfrog Group, according to its latest report.
The hospital safety advocacy organization reported TriStar NorthCrest Medical Center in Robertson County received a “D” grade for hospital safety, making it one of the lowest-scoring hospitals in Middle Tennessee.
The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade ranks hospitals on a A through F scale based on how safe they are for patients. The grades are based on things like how well the hospital protects against patients contracting infections, the hospital’s support network staff as well as patients, and the number of procedures in place to prevent errors or accidents.
The safety grade is a comparative measure against the average score of hospitals nationwide, according to The Leapfrog Group.
According to the report, the Springfield hospital scored worse than the average hospital for multiple preventative practices, including safe medication administration, handwashing, communication about medicines and communication about discharge.
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The average hospital’s score was 93.42 out of 100, but TriStar NorthCrest scored a 75 for safe medication administration. According to the report, hospitals that score higher use bar coding technology effectively for all orders, meaning medication errors happen less frequently. For handwashing, TriStar NorthCrest scored 40 out of 100, compared to the average of 78.65/100.
Areas of improvement for the hospital also included accidental cuts and tears, harmful events, dangerous bed sores, patient falls and injuries, collapsed lung, responsiveness of hospital staff, communication with nurses and specially trained doctors care for ICU patients, per the report. All these areas saw the hospital score worse than the average hospital.
This is the hospital’s third “D” grade in the last year-and-a-half, as it had a “D” in both the fall and spring of 2023, per Leapfrog. The hospital received a “C” grade in 2022 and 2021.
Despite the low letter grade, TriStar NorthCrest fared better than average in several categories, including C.diff infections, dangerous object left in patient’s body, air or gas bubbled in the blood, and doctors order medications through a computer.
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News 2 has reached out to TriStar NorthCrest Medical Center for comment.
Another Middle Tennessee hospital received a “D” grade from Leapfrog: Cookeville Regional Medical Center. According to Leapfrog, Cookeville Regional scored worse than average for MRSA infections, infections in the blood, UTIs, sepsis after surgery, death from serious treatable complications, blood leakage, kidney injury after surgery, serious breathing problem, harmful events, falls causing broken hips, doctors order medications through a computer, safe medication administration, handwashing, communication about medicines, and specially trained doctors care for ICU patients.
Other results from the Spring 2024 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade report show hospitals in the immediate Nashville area scoring “A” through “C,” with TriStar Centennial Medical Center scoring an “A,” Vanderbilt University Hospital with a “B,” and Ascension Saint Thomas Midtown Hospital, Ascension Saint Thomas West Hospital, and Nashville General Hospital all with “C” grades.
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