Two prestigious hospitals in Pennsylvania, the Lankenau Medical Center and Riddle Hospital – both under the umbrella of Main Line Health – have earned acclaim for their unwavering commitment to patient safety. This acknowledgment was presented by the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania (HAP) as part of their 2024 Excellence in Patient Safety Recognition program. The program aims to honor the elite hospitals in Pennsylvania that have demonstrated consistently low rates of healthcare-associated infections. Notably, this accolade is not new for Lankenau Medical Center as it was also a recipient of the same recognition in 2023.
The president of Lankenau Medical Center, Katie Galbraith, MBA, FACHE, expressed her pride in the hospital’s consistent performance. Patient safety is paramount at Lankenau, and this honor is a reflection of robust efforts by everyone associated with the center to prevent infections, hence saving lives.
An equally pleased Shelly Buck, DNP, MBA, president of Riddle Hospital, deemed the recognition a wonderful achievement. She extended credit to all employees – physicians, nurses, the environmental services team, amongst others – for upholding the hospital’s commitment to protect patients from infections. She further underscored the abundance and diversity of crucial steps necessary to ensure infection prevention, crediting the staff for their dedicated performance to ensure patient care safety.
In the 2024 round, HAP honored 22 hospitals based on their performance in 2023. The criteria for recognition involves comparison to the mean standardized infection ratio in three prominent measures: central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and occurrences of Clostridioides difficile (C diff). The award-winning hospitals’ data was collected from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Healthcare Safety Network.
Highlighting the primacy of delivering high-quality and safe care, Nicole Stallings, HAP President and CEO, voiced her pride in acknowledging the Pennsylvania hospital teams’ outstanding results derived from their commitment to continuous quality and safety improvement.