Penn Medicine Princeton Earns 'A' Grade For Safety In New Ratings

PRINCETON, NJ — Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center has once again earned an 'A' grade for safety according to the fall 2023 hospital safety grades released Monday by the Leapfrog Group, an independent nonprofit healthcare watchdog.

The nonprofit used an academic grading scale with five letter grades to score nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide on how well they prevent medical errors, accidents and infections.

Overall, hospitals significantly reduced infections after the pandemic spike, but patient-reported experiences declined for the second year in a row, according to the report.

This is the fifth time in a row that the hospital has earned an "A" grade.

Here's how the hospital performed in five categories:

Infections

• MRSA Infection - Average
• C. diff Infection - Average
• Infection in the blood - Better Than Average
• Infection in the urinary tract - Better Than Average
• Surgical site infection after colon surgery - Better Than Average
• Sepsis infection after surgery - Better Than Average

Problems with Surgery

• Dangerous object left in patient's body - Better Than Average
• Surgical wound splits open - Better Than Average
• Death from serious treatable complications - Average
• Blood Leakage - Better Than Average
• Kidney injury after surgery - Average
• Serious breathing problem - Better Than Average
• Accidental cuts and tears - Worse Than Average

Safety problems

• Harmful events - Better Than Average
• Dangerous bed sores - Better Than Average
• Patient falls and injuries - Average
• Falls causing broken hips - Better Than Average
• Collapsed lung - Worse Than Average
• Dangerous blood clot - Worse Than Average
• Air or gas bubble in the blood - Better Than Average

Practices to Prevent Errors

• Doctors order medications through a computer - Better Than Average
• Safe medication administration - Better Than Average
• Handwashing - Better Than Average
• Communication about medicines - Better Than Average
• Communication about discharge - Average
• Staff work together to prevent errors - Worse Than Average

Doctors, Nurses and Hospital Staff

• Effective leadership to prevent errors - Better Than Average
• Nursing and bedside care for patients - Average
• Specially trained doctors care for ICU patients - Better Than Average
• Communication with doctors - Better Than Average
• Communication with nurses - Better Than Average
• Responsiveness of hospital staff - Average

Among 67 New Jersey hospitals evaluated in the report, 24 received the gold-standard “A” safety grade. Another 27 earned a “B,” 16 earned a “C” and zero hospitals earned a “D" or an "F."

The Leapfrog Group grades hospitals twice a year. In the fall report, the first report using post-pandemic data, 30 percent of hospitals nationwide earned an “A,” 24 percent earned a “B,” 39 percent earned a “C,” 7 percent earned a “D,” and fewer than 1 percent earned an “F.”

Leapfrog says its hospital rating system is the only one in the country focusing solely on a hospital’s ability to protect patients from preventable errors.

-With reporting from Michelle Rotuno-Johnson, Patch Staff