…is recognized
as one of the
best hospitals in the country.
Only the finest hospitals in the nation are fortunate enough every year to be selected to receive just a single HealthGrades America’s 100 Best Specialty Care Award. For 2012, Peninsula Regional Medical Center is the proud recipient of more than one: it has been named one of the Best 100 Hospitals in the Nation for Cardiac Care, Stroke Care, Pulmonary Care, Gastrointestinal Care, Critical Care and General Surgery. The designations come from a study released by HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent source of physician information and hospital quality outcomes.
“Peninsula Regional’s greatest asset is our team of employees, volunteers and physicians,” said Dr. Peggy Naleppa, MS, MBA, FACHE and President/CEO. “Our HealthGrades clinical successes are a direct result of their dedication and devotion to PRMC’s ‘A Culture of Always,’ which is striving to make sure we do it right for every patient, every person, every time.”
The knowledge and dedication at Peninsula Regional result in more than accolades — they save lives.
Top Cardiac Care
The Stephens family of Salisbury experienced firsthand the capabilities of a top-rated facility. When 16-year-old Gavin’s chest pain, which they believed to be a pulled muscle resulting from an injury, became severe, his parents brought him to the Peninsula Regional Emergency/Trauma Center. That’s where doctors realized that the pain was something much more serious: a pericardial effusion, or buildup of fluid around the heart. Cardiologist Steven Hearne, MD, was called in to quickly perform a pericardiocentesis to drain fluid from around Gavin’s heart. Then he was transported to Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. — one of the nation’s most respected children’s healthcare providers, with which Peninsula Regional is affiliated. He spent six days undergoing intensive testing and consults with medical specialists, and the crisis was attributed to a virus. Now, Gavin is on the road to recovery, back in his Salisbury home, but there were a couple of bumps in the road that brought him back to the PRMC Emergency Department, due to fever and recurrence of fluid near his heart.
“I was so pleased to see the ease at which PRMC staff was able to connect with Children’s National staff to communicate quickly to provide follow-up medical care,” said Renee Stephens, Gavin’s mother.
She says she is glad to be able to have a trusted institution nearby after what her son went through. “Gavin is fortunate that there was no permanent damage to his heart, or any other organs, thanks to the rapid response of Dr. Hearne and so many others,” she said.
The five-star skill and experience of professionals such as those at Peninsula Regional can make a dramatic difference. According to HealthGrades, patients had, on average a 73 percent lower risk of dying in a five-star rated hospital compared to a one-star rated hospital, and a 54 percent lower risk of dying in a five-star rated hospital compared to the national average. If all Medicare patients from 2008 through 2010 had been treated at five-star hospitals, 240,040 lives potentially could have been saved.
Top Stroke Care
Peninsula Regional is the area’s designated Primary Stroke Center, and now HealthGrades has named the Medical Center among the nation’s Best 100 in Stroke Care. Those designations are in part a result of the Medical Center’s commitment to bringing the most innovative and effective treatments to Delmarva.
One new procedure, which PRMC is the only hospital on Delmarva to perform, is mechanical thrombectomy, a technique that brings new hope to people who have suffered an ischemic stroke. Fast treatment after a stroke can mean a less complicated recovery. Standard pharmaceutical treatment has just a three-hour window of use, but mechanical thrombectomy can help patients up to six hours after the start of symptoms. Previously, patients would have had to travel to the Baltimore or Norfolk area to receive this state-of-the-art procedure, which allows doctors to remove a blood clot that has caused a stroke, rapidly restoring blood flow to the brain.
Remaining Delmarva’s most advanced center for medicine is a constant goal for Peninsula Regional. New technologies throughout the Medical Center, including da Vinci robotic surgery and advanced disease detection and treatment options, continue to define the standard for safer care, faster recoveries and better outcomes.
Top Critical Care
An exceptional outcome was the experience for Bruce Somers of Marion Station, whose vehicle was struck by a truck at an intersection in Bishopville. He arrived by helicopter at PRMC, where a trauma surgeon, three Emergency Department physicians, ED nursing and tech staff, lab and respiratory personnel were all awaiting his arrival. When wheeled into the trauma bay, Bruce had multiple, visible injuries and a nearly amputated left arm. Radiology revealed a horrific array of critical injuries, including bleeding inside and around the brain, bleeding from his right kidney and liver, fractures of his face, neck, upper and lower back pelvis and hip socket, and 10 fractured ribs.
“People and other doctors will ask us when we went to Shock Trauma and we tell them never,” said Tanna Johnson, Bruce’s fiancé. “Everyone is amazed because of the severity of Bruce’s injuries, but we know there’s no way he would have received any better care on the other side of the bridge or anywhere else.”
Bruce spent 43 days in PRMC’s ICU, followed by 10 weeks at a rehabilitation facility. Today he walks, laughs and converses with surprising ease, and has recovered much of his former function — an incredible outcome given the extent of his injuries.
Quality and Safety
Exceptional care, like the kind Bruce Somers and Gavin Stephens received, is how Peninsula Regional sets its standard. Those high standards are reflected in the HealthGrades ratings for 2012, and were expected for a hospital in the Top 5 percent in the Nation, and named a HealthGrades Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence for the third consecutive year in 2011. Overall, Peninsula Regional achieved 25 five-Star (Best) Ratings and 10 Specialty Excellence for 2012, the most of any hospital on the Delmarva Peninsula.
“Quality and safety remain at the heart of everything we do as an organization, and collectively we hold each other accountable. We’re not afraid to have courageous conversations to remind us all that first and foremost there is a patient, and we must always be focused on what we can do to make the overall healthcare experience exceptional,” said Dr. Naleppa. The accountability of the HealthGrades awards is what makes them significant — unlike other hospital quality studies, HealthGrades evaluates hospitals solely on clinical outcomes: risk-adjusted mortality and in-hospital complications. Hospitals cannot opt in or out of being rated. HealthGrades analyzed approximately 40 million Medicare discharges from almost every U.S. hospital from 2008 through 2010.
Only four hospitals across the nation ranked among the 100 Best in more specialties than Peninsula Regional; none were in the mid-Atlantic region. PRMC has received more than 125 national awards, certifications and recognitions over the past six years for the safety and care it provides patients and the outcomes they experience.
When the worst happens — whether it’s a driver running a red light, a sudden heart crisis or any of the myriad health issues that can arise without warning — it’s good to have the best nearby.
Peninsula Regional Medical Center, 100 East Carroll Street, Salisbury, Md., 410-546-6400, www.peninsula.org
Written By: Jerry Dicairano