Focus on Patient Safety

Patient Safety Recognized

Guelph General Hospital (GGH) recently learned it had the second best score in the country on a key patient safety indicator. The Hospital Standardized Mortality Ratio (HSMR), measures expected deaths versus actual deaths in acute care hospitals. Any score lower than 100 indicates fewer than expected deaths. GGH had the second lowest score in the country at 68. Both the national and provincial average was 89.

Over the past two years, GGH has identified a number of projects to help promote safety such as falls reduction, medication safety and patient identification, Hospital President and CEO, Marianne Walker, explains. She was quick to point out it is a team effort.

“Our staff and physicians are committed to providing the highest quality care and experience for patients and their families. Patient safety is deeply engrained in all we do.”

Safety is also now a part of the Hospital’s daily routine.

“We are highly focused on understanding the day-to-day challenges of our front line staff which impacts the care they are able to provide,” explains Walker. “Our implementation of daily huddles in our clinical areas provides staff with the opportunity to identify safety issues and concerns and to share learnings with their teams. These learnings are then shared broadly with other clinical teams at a daily leadership huddle.”

The HSMR is just one measurement in Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) annual report which provides essential information on Canada’s health systems and the health of Canadians. Discover what other indicators are contained in CIHI’s GGH’s report.  

Indicator	GGH	WWLHIN	Ontario	Canada
HSMR	67	76	89	89