I wrote a short post last week on how hospitals within 50 miles of Roanoke, Virginia fared when evaluated for patient safety and quality medical care by The Leapfrog Group. Today, I will share my observations on the survey results for hospitals in southwest Virginia. Again, two observations stand out:
1. Buchanan General Hospital (Grundy, VA) and Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital refused to provide data for the survey. Why and what are they hiding? The local newspapers in the communities served by these hospitals should find out (and publish) the answers.
2. Of the hospitals that provided responses to the survey, the following received poor grades for having specifically trained doctors to care for the most vulnerable of patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU): Russell County Medical Center (Lebanon, VA), Smythe County Community Hospital (Marion, VA), Twin County Regional Healthcare (Galax, VA), and Wythe County Community Hospital (Wytheville, VA). As I commented in the earlier blog, the lack of necessary medical specialists should concern all of us. Let’s say you are admitted for a routine gall bladder surgery but the surgeon negligently cuts your common bile duct or you encounter excessive and unanticipated internal bleeding as a result of the surgery. Is your hospital equipped and staffed by the necessary medical intensivists to save your life? Important questions….but more important are the answers.
Read the survey results here.