Very proud to be an open heart RN at Borgess Medical Center. This could not be done without our fabulous staff! Congrats everyone! Consumer Reports places Borgess Medical Center among the top 15 hospitals in U.S. for heart surgery Dr. David Martin is shown performing a heart surgery at Borgess Medical Center. The hospital performs eight to 10 open heart operations per week and has done more than 20,000 since the inception of its cardio-surgery program in 1971. (Courtesy Photo) By Al Jones | ajones5@mlive Follow on Twitter on June 30, 2014 at 6:30 PM, updated July 01, 2014 at 9:47 AM KALAMAZOO, MI – Borgess Medical Center, home of the Borgess Heart Institute, was one of 15 hospitals in the United States to earn top marks from Consumer Reports for heart bypass and valve surgeries. It was one of three Michigan hospitals in the consumer advocacy magazines list of 15, making Michigan the state best represented there. The Meijer Heart Center at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti were the other two. ConsumerReports.org stated that the rating, compiled to help consumers make better choices for heart surgery from hundreds of hospitals nationwide, was based on data provided from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, and culled from 400 hospitals that agreed to share their information. It included evaluation for such things as: patient experience; patient outcomes; avoiding adverse events in surgical patients; overall heart bypass surgery performance; and overall aortic valve replacement surgery. This recognition is extremely meaningful to us as a hospital because its unsolicited, said Dr. David Martin, director of cardiovascular surgery at Borgess. In other words, we didnt apply for this recognition. We didnt fill out questionnaires, didnt fill out a check. Its based on very high quality data obtained by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. According to Consumer Reports, The ratings are based on the gold standard in tracking hospital performance: data from patients medical records showing whether patients survived the procedure and how they fared on other important measures, including complications. To create a level playing field, the data are adjusted for the health of patients because certain hospitals treat more older, sicker patients than others. Consumer Reports stated that the information came from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, which represents physicians who operate on the heart and other chest organs. The publication reported that more than 1,000 U.S. hospitals report to the STS, but only about 400 allowed the organization to share its data. Among its findings, Consumer Reports noted that: -Certain famous hospitals are missing – They arent in our ratings because they dont share data with us, the STS, or both. It said that includes Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. -Top hospitals are in surprising places – Only 15 hospitals in our ratings earned top scores in heart-valve and bypass surgeries. Although the well-known Cleveland Clinic made the list, so did some less familiar hospitals, such as Borgess Medical Center in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler in Tyler, Texas. Some are major medical centers; others are smaller. Martin said he was excited to have the Borgess team included among those that turn out top quality work. We show up with the likes of the Cleveland Clinic, he said, and that is really special. Of the Borgess heart team, Martin said, This includes our critical care staff, our operating room personnel, our anesthesia group, our perfusion group (who run the heart-lung machine), the nurses of our step-down unit (where patients go after the intensive care unit), our office staff and the administration of Borgess Hospital who foster this concept of teamwork and collaboration. Martin and Dr. Jerry Pratt are the hospitals heart surgeons. Martin has been practicing medicine for 26 years and has worked at Borgess for the last four. Pratt has been practicing medicine for about 12 years and has been with Borgess for the last two years. Eighty to 100 people are involved with heart surgeries at Borgess. But hospital spokesman Lew Tysman said hundreds of hospital staffers are involved when all parts of a patients treatment are considered, from preparing patients for surgery to doing testing and providing rehabilitation services afterwords. The 15 hospitals to receive excellent marks were listed alphabetically: • Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, Mass. • Borgess Medical Center, Kalamazoo, Mich. • Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland. • The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano, Plano, Texas. • Kaiser Permanente Sunnyside Medical Center, Clackamas, Ore. • Kaleida Health (Gates Vascular Institute at Buffalo General Medical Center), Buffalo, N.Y. • Mother Frances Hospital-Tyler, Tyler, Texas. • St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ypsilanti, Mich. • St. Josephs Hospital Health Center, Syracuse, N.Y. • St. Vincent Heart Center of Indiana, Indianapolis. • Sequoia Hospital, Redwood City, Calif. • Spectrum Health - Grand Rapids (Meijer Heart Center), Grand Rapids, Mich. • Swedish Medical Center-Cherry Hill Campus, Seattle. • UMass Memorial Medical Center, Worcester, Mass. • Valley Hospital, Ridgewood, N.J. Martin said the listing is an accolade but it is for many more people than him and fellow heart surgeon Pratt. He said they are like conductors who get to take a bow for the work an entire orchestra of people provides. The conductor gets all the accolades, he said, but the conductor gets none of the applause without everyone playing their instrument very well and making music that sounds so beautiful. The Borgess team performs eight to 10 open heart operations per week. Tysman said Borgess has done more than 20,000 since the inception of its cardio-surgery program in 1971
Posted on: Tue, 01 Jul 2014 17:55:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015