Quality of Care - Children

Efficient care is better care

Studies show that hospitals that operate efficiently not only save money for their patients and for themselves, but that they actually tend to provide better overall care.

Our goal at Kentucky Children's Hospital is to provide the best possible care in the most efficient manner, and we are continually working to improve and streamline our processes so we can do just that.

Our quality metrics

Kentucky Children’s Hospital works to ensure high-quality and safe care with an emphasis on cultivating a culture of safety. Our quality-improvement efforts include:

• Driving performance in hospital-acquired conditions
• Supporting quality-improvement work across clinical areas
• Promoting quality improvement and safety education for faculty and staff

Here, we share our performance in the following areas:

• Unplanned extubation
• Hand hygiene
• CLABSI (central-line bloodstream infections)
• SSI (surgical site infection)
• Patient experience

Unplanned extubation

Pediatric and newborn patients who experience unplanned extubation (UE) can suffer from worse clinical outcomes. Our children’s hospital has made great strides within our NICU and PICU to prevent these unintentional breathing tube dislodgments. Interventions involving our nursing and respiratory care teams have led to significant improvements. The chart above reflects our average results for the most recent fiscal year. A lower rate is better.

Central-line bloodstream infections (CLABSIs)

Nationally, central-line bloodstream infections (CLABSI) lead to patient harm, increasing cost and length of stay. Efforts to improve adherence to bundle elements – evidence-based practices focused on delivering the best care – have led to a decrease in our CLABSI rate in our pediatric ICUs. A lower rate is better.

Hand hygiene

We continue to emphasize hand hygiene as the best practice for the safety of our young patients and ourselves. The chart shows our compliance for the most recent fiscal year. 

Patient experience

Results from the Child HCAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Child Hospital Survey) guide our improvements. The survey assesses the inpatient-care experiences of pediatric patients (17 and younger) and their parents or guardians. Outcomes represent the percentage of patients who gave our hospital an overall rating of 9 or 10 (on a scale of 0 to 10), indicating a positive experience.

SSI (surgical site infection)

Nationally, surgical site infections remain a substantial cause of illness, extended hospitalization and death. The chart reflects our average SSI rate for the most recent fiscal year completed. A lower rate is better.