(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A hospital safety watchdog group has released its latest report and it indicates Illinois hospitals are improving.
“The safety grade program can be a great motivator to these hospitals, kind of a wake up call,” said Alex Campione, Project Analyst for The Leapfrog Group which looks at hospital-triggered infections, falls, medication errors and other safety issues.
Last spring, Leapfrog ranked Illinois hospitals, as a whole, 30th in the country for safety. Now Illinois hospitals are ranked 23rd.
St. Bernard Hospital in the Englewood neighborhood was one of 47 hospitals that received C’s. The hospital’s Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer Michael Richardson arrived in 2021 when St Bernard had an F grade.
“When I first got here, installed hand hygiene monitoring system so we could detect staff that weren’t cleansing their hands,” Richardson said.
He said St. Bernard was able to see through that system who wasn’t scanning their ID badges following a handwashing and then discussions were had with those staffers to get them to comply or risk losing their jobs.