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A new study of New York area hospitals conducted by Consumer Reports Magazine gives four Westchester County hospitals an "F" for safety.
The study looked at four categories of patient safety. They include hospital-acquired infections, how well hospital staff communicate with patients about medications, readmissions, as well as discharge planning. The four categories were combined into a single safety score.
The Westchester hospitals cited as "lowest performing" were St. John's Riverside Hospital in Yonkers, St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers, Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville and Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle. St. Joseph's Medical Center was listed as the fourth worst in its study, ranking 62 percent lower than the national average. Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville was the seventh worst, according to the report, with a score of 57 percent below the national average.
Northern Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco and Hudson Valley Hospital Center in Cortlandt were listed as among the safest hospitals in the New York area.
A spokesman for St. Joseph's Medical Center in Yonkers suggested the Consumer Reports' numbers were skewed, particularly with regard to the hospital's bloodstream-infection rate. The hospital cited that relatively few intensive-care patients received central lines in 2010. Among the 436 who did, four suffered from infections. A central line is a catheter that is placed through a vein through the chest and is used to provide nutrition and/or medications to a patient.
Consumer Reports says underperforming hospitals could take simple steps to improve their scores moving forward that include making certain all hospital staff and visitors wash their hands with soap or an alcohol-based solution before touching a patient, providing patients with a clear discharge plan detailing follow up appointments, medications and their dosages, and helping patients understand whether such things as a cane, walker or oxygen are covered by their insurance plans.
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