May 12 to May 18 Is National Hospital Week
This week is National Hospital Week, a week-long event that recognizes the work that hospitals across the nation do to try to keep the community healthy.
National Hospital Week was born in 1921 when a Chicago magazine editor suggested that a community-wide event could alleviate public fears about hospitals. That simple local event designed to promote goodwill spread nationwide, eventually becoming what organizers describe today as “the nation’s largest health event.”
This year’s theme is, “A Guiding Light For Changing Times.” While the week-long celebration recognizes the advances in technology and care that hospitals provide the community, the organizers describe it simply as a “celebration of people.”
Coincidentally or not, Leapfrog Group released its third set of hospital safety ratings just prior to National Hospital Week. Leapfrog Group is a patient safety organization that describes its hospital survey as the gold standard for comparing hospitals’ performance on the national standards of safety quality and efficiency.
The CEO of Leapfrog described the latest scores as “depressing,” since hospitals have shown miniscule improvements over the last time Leapfrog’s hospital grades were released. While the overall numbers were fractionally better than last time, more hospitals got worse than got better. According to Leapfrog, 14.08 percent of hospitals saw their scores go down one grade, while only 9.39 percent saw their grades go up one grade.
A check of the organization’s hospital grade website revealed that two hospital’s in the Jacksonville area received A’s, while two hospitals received C’s. Six other hospitals received B grades.
While the law firm of Farah & Farah lauds the work that hospitals do across the nation, it is obvious that much more needs to be done to protect patients from preventable hospital injuries. If you’ve suffered an injury in a hospital setting, we can review your case and discuss your legal options. Call us at (800) 533-3555 or simply contact us online for a free and confidential consultation.
