Fort Washington Medical Center Receives 2018 Patient Safety Excellence Award

FORT WASHINGTON, Md., Oct. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Fort Washington Medical Center (FWMC) recently announced that it has earned the Healthgrades 2018 Patient Safety Excellence Awardtm. The designation ranks FWMC among the top 10 percent of acute care hospitals in the nation protecting patients from serious, potentially avoidable complications during their hospital stay. There are 46 acute care hospitals in Maryland. The FWMC is the only hospital in Prince George's County, and one-of-seven in the state to achieve this distinction from Healthgrades, the leading online provider of comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals in the United States.

"This award symbolizes a lot for FWMC," said Joseph Tucker, Chief Financial Officer and acting CEO. "It [the award] demonstrates extensive progress. We're currently undergoing a lot of change at the hospital ? and this recognition reflects persistence and excellent skill set of our entire staff who strive to provide our patients with the best quality of care."

To help consumers evaluate and compare hospital performance, Healthgrades analyzed 14 patient safety indicators from 2014 to 2016. They subsequently selected 458 out of 4,500 top performing hospitals that serve patients in the Medicare population.

According to Griffin Davis, MD, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at FWMC, "Our multidisciplinary approach to patient safety is paying off." He adds that, "Once we refine or determine a new policy or procedure, we make concerted efforts to engage our patients, their families, our clinical and quality teams, and physicians to ensure seamless transitions of care and improved outcomes."

Healthgrades found that patients treated in hospitals receiving the Patient Safety Excellence Award were, on average:

• 55.6 percent less likely to experience an accidental cut, puncture, perforation or hemorrhage during medical care, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 52.4 percent less likely to experience a collapsed lung due to a procedure or surgery in or around the chest, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 62.8 percent less likely to experience catheter-related bloodstream infections acquired at the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.
• 54.3 percent less likely to experience pressure sores or bed sores acquired in the hospital, than patients treated at non-recipient hospitals.

Learn more about Healthgrades hospital quality methodologies, and access the Patient Sentiment Report, which analyzed nearly seven (7) million online patient reviews and reveals what patients say about their physicians.

In addition to the 2018 Patient Safety Excellence Awardtm, FWMC received the following Healthgrades 2018 and 2019 Five-Star ratings:

• Orthopedics ? Treatment of Hip Fractures for 3 years in a row (2017-2019)
• Appendix Removal Surgery (2019)
• Cardiac ? Treatment of Heart Failure for 8 years in a row (2011-2018)
• Gallbladder Removal Surgery (2018)

About Fort Washington Medical Center

Reformed in 1991, Fort Washington Medical Center (FWMC) is a non-profit 37-bed acute care hospital in Prince George's County, Maryland ? a suburb of Washington, DC. The FWMC was built for the community using community dollars. The hospital provides general inpatient services including adult medical/surgical care, ambulatory surgical services, 24-hour emergency services, radiology and other diagnostic services, laboratory services, and a four-bed intensive care unit. It has one of the busiest emergency rooms in the metropolitan area, seeing over 43,000 patients each year, and employs more than 400 staff. Nexus Health, a private health care organization, owns and manages the hospital.

SOURCE Fort Washington Medical Center