American College of Surgeons Recognizes ChristianaCare for ‘Meritorious’ Surgical Outcomes

ChristianaCare has been honored as one of only 78 institutions out of 615 by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Clinical Congress for achieving “meritorious” outcomes in surgical patient care.

This is the 10th time that ChristianaCare has been recognized through the organization’s National Surgical Quality Improvement Program – also known as ACS NSQIP – which is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients.

“Patients can be confident that when they come to ChristianaCare for surgery, they are receiving care from a team that has a long track record of national recognition for outstanding quality and safety. Receiving this recognition for the 10th time is a direct result of our commitment to excellence and providing world-class surgical care to our community,” said Matthew Rubino, MD, MBA, FACS, interim chair of ChristianaCare’s Department of Surgery. “These awards reflect the commitment to excellence by all our surgeons and caregivers within Perioperative Services. We look forward to progressing on our journey of continuous improvement, anchored by our values of love and excellence.”

The award recognizes ChristianaCare’s coordinated delivery of perioperative care within the general, colorectal, neurologic, orthopaedic and oral and maxillofacial and otorhinolaryngology (ear, nose and throat) surgery specialties. It includes Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital, as well as the Christiana Surgicenter in Newark, Delaware, representing a combined total of nearly 38,000 surgical procedures a year. That volume represents the 46th highest volume of surgeries among health systems nationwide.

The ACS NSQIP measures actual surgical results 30 days after the operation and makes risk adjustments to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels. Participating hospitals are required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and then analyze their results, which direct patient safety initiatives within the hospital and impact the quality of surgical care.

ChristianaCare was honored with ACS NSQIP recognition for its performance in eight clinical areas:

• Mortality.
• Cardiac arrest and heart attack.
• Pneumonia.
• Unplanned intubation.
• Ventilator use for longer than 48 hours.
• Renal failure.
• Surgical site infections.
• Urinary tract infection.