Children's Hospital of Michigan is dedicated to providing care that is the safest and highest quality possible. Our team is working every day to do the right thing for the right patient at the right time and in the right way to achieve the best possible result for your child’s health in our hospital, our community and beyond.
What is patient safety?
When we focus on patient safety, we are focusing on preventing errors that could lead to adverse healthcare outcomes for our patients. Patient safety includes all aspects of the care experience at the hospital, including:
Effective communication
Adherence to processes to prevent hospital acquired infections
Proper hand hygiene
Parents and family members play an important role in patient safety! Communication between staff and families helps create a partnership that keeps patients safe. Sharing your observations and concerns with your child's healthcare team help us provide your child with the safest care possible.
Our Quality Outcomes
Quality, safety and optimal health outcomes are top priorities at Children’s Hospital of Michigan. We closely monitor and track data that helps us learn how we are doing.
What is a central line associated blood stream infection (CLABSI)?
A central line or central catheter is a small plastic tube placed into a larger blood vessel. This catheter is used to deliver fluids and medications, and to draw blood for tests. A central line associate blood stream infection can happen if bacteria or other germs enter the bloodstream through the catheter. These infections are serious, but can often be successfully treated with medicine.
How do we measure?
Children’s Hospital of Michigan is continuously working to reduce the occurrence of central line infections and we measure ourselves against national pediatric benchmarks.
How do we meet this metric?
Hand hygiene; nursing excellence; pristine bundle care for central lines; parent partnership and education.
Children's Hospital of Michigan is in alignment with Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS), our national pediatric benchmarking organization
CHM’s CLABSI average rate is 0.991%, compared to the national SPS which is 0.987%.
We continue to drive down the number of days we use central line catheters. This of course, increases the overall rate. But fewer line days is best for our patients.
A CAUTI is an infection of the urinary tract caused by a tube (urinary catheter) that has been placed to drain urine from the bladder. There are a variety of complications that can occur if a patient has a CAUTI and can contribute to a longer hospital stay. These infections are preventable.
What we are doing about CAUTI?
Removing urinary catheters as soon as possible. Fewer days with a urinary catheter leads to fewer opportunities for infection.
Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) is a 75% decrease over prior year. We had 1 catheter associated urinary tract infection in all of 2023.
C. diff (Clostridioides difficile) Infection
What is C. diff?
C. diff (also known as Clostridioides difficile or C. difficile) is a germ (bacterium) that causes diarrhea.
What are we doing about C. diff?
We are working to lower incidence of C. diff acquired while in the hospital. Our processes include fastidious hand hygiene and environmental cleaning.
C. diff (Clostridioides difficile) Infection was a 42% decrease over prior year, ending with 11 total for 2023.
MRSA
What is MRSA?
In the community (where you live, work, shop, and go to school), MRSA most often causes skin infections. In some cases, it causes pneumonia (lung infection) and other infections. If left untreated, MRSA infections can become severe and cause sepsis—the body’s extreme response to an infection. MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a type of bacteria that is resistant to several antibiotics. Approximately 5% of patients in U.S. hospitals carry MRSA in their nose or on their skin. Patients who are hospitalized are at highest risk for this bacteria to cause complications.
What are we doing about MRSA?
At Children’s Hospital of Michigan, we have worked tirelessly on lowering this type of infection. As a part of our standard process for patients who are admitted to our PICU and NICU, are preventatively with a topical ointment. In 2023, we had zero cases of MRSA.
Preventing the spread of infection is a critical aspect of patient safety. The single most important and effective safety measure at Children's Hospital of Michigan is to make sure our hands are clean before and after any and every patient encounter.
Children’s Hospital of Michigan is proud to consistently be >95% in 2023 throughout the hospital on hand hygiene.
We aim to provide excellent service that is centered on your child’s unique needs to help ensure a positive experience throughout your family’s healthcare journey. Getting feedback about your experience at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and how quickly we respond to your concerns, are two ways we work to ensure that we are providing care based on trust and respect.
Children’s Hospital of Michigan remains committed to improving our patients’ experience by continuing to collect family feedback in a variety of ways, including through our participation in the Press Ganey survey.
Most patients at Children’s Hospital of Michigan who have surgery do well, but sometimes patients develop surgical wound infections at the site of the surgery. We have safe processes in place that reduce the risk of infection. Our goal is for no child to encounter a surgical site infection.
How do we measure?
Children’s Hospital of Michigan is continuously working to reduce the occurrence of surgical site infections and we measure ourselves against national pediatric benchmarks.
How do we meet this metric?
Exceptional surgical procedures; complying with infection control measures.
Children going through treatment can be at risk for falls, especially at certain times during treatment. The risk of falls can increase in the hospital because of illness, procedures, medicines, and changes in environment and routine. Medical devices and equipment can interfere with movement or cause a patient to trip. Some patients may need to wear a special hospital bracelet if they have an increased risk of falls.
How do we measure?
Children’s Hospital of Michigan is continuously working to reduce the occurrence of hospital-based falls in patients and we measure ourselves against national pediatric benchmarks.
How do we meet this metric?
Fall prevention posters in 3 languages; parent partnership; team commitment to safety – anyone and everyone is empowered to stop a fall.
