The Leapfrog survey gives us an opportunity to look at our areas of success and areas for ongoing improvement as we strive to deliver on our commitment to zero harm.
Michael S. Calderwood, MD, MPHDartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), the flagship academic medical center of Dartmouth Health, received an “A” Hospital Safety Grade for Spring 2023 from The Leapfrog Group. This national distinction recognizes DHMC’s achievements in protecting hospital patients from preventable harm and errors.
“I am proud of the work of our teams throughout the medical center who collaborate in the development and implementation of quality initiatives, reinforce expectations regarding our safety culture, anticipate events that may impact safety, and foster a learning environment anchored in trust and teamwork,” said Michael S. Calderwood, MD, MPH, chief quality officer at DHMC. “The Leapfrog survey gives us an opportunity to look at our areas of success and areas for ongoing improvement as we strive to deliver on our commitment to zero harm. We seek to empower staff to speak up as the foundation of our safety culture, while applying a systematic, data-driven approach to complex problem solving. This year, there was a new section of the survey focused on provider order entry, and a multidisciplinary team worked to improve how we alert an ordering provider about medication contraindications. This shows what we can achieve when we work together to drive positive change.”
The Leapfrog Group is an independent national watchdog organization with a 10-year history of assigning letter grades to general hospitals throughout the United States based on a hospital’s ability to prevent medical errors and harm to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent, and free to the public. Hospital Safety Grade results are based on more than 30 national performance measures and are updated each fall and spring.
For more information, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org.
About Dartmouth Health
Dartmouth Health, New Hampshire's only academic health system and the state's largest private employer, serves patients across northern New England. Dartmouth Health provides access to more than 2,000 providers in almost every area of medicine, delivering care at its flagship hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH, as well as across its wide network of hospitals, clinics and care facilities. DHMC is consistently named the #1 hospital in New Hampshire by U.S. News & World Report, and recognized for high performance in numerous clinical specialties and procedures. Dartmouth Health includes Dartmouth Cancer Center, one of only 56 National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers in the nation, and the only such center in northern New England; Dartmouth Health Children’s, which includes Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, the state’s only children’s hospital, and multiple clinic locations around the region; member hospitals in Lebanon, Keene and New London, NH, and Bennington and Windsor, VT; Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire; and more than 24 clinics that provide ambulatory services across New Hampshire and Vermont. Through its historical partnership with Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth Health trains nearly 400 medical residents and fellows annually, and performs cutting-edge research and clinical trials recognized across the globe with Geisel and the White River Junction VA Medical Center in White River Junction, VT. Dartmouth Health and its more than 13,000 employees are deeply committed to serving the healthcare needs of everyone in our communities, and to providing each of our patients with exceptional, personal care.