UNC Lenoir Health Care Recognized for Providing the Highest Level of Patient Safety

Many people are wondering how hospitals are performing necessary safety measures during the pandemic. UNC Lenoir Health Care is doing an excellent job, and this is proven by it being awarded an ‘A’ in the spring 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade. This is a national distinction that recognizes UNC Lenoir Health Care’s achievements providing safer health care. They are one of five UNC-system hospitals to be awarded this accolade.

The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses up to 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. acute-care hospitals twice per year. The grades are based on their record of patient safety, which means helping consumers protect themselves and their families from errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.

The data is well analyzed and protected, as the Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public. The grades are updated every six months.

As a UNC Lenoir patient, how does this impact you? It means several things:

• It translates into the highest levels of safety and care in hospital operations. UNC Lenoir Health Care has always been proactive about patient care, and this has been especially obvious during the pandemic. At every level, UNC Lenoir Health Care’s priority is patient safety, which is proven in the data collected by Leapfrog.
  
  
• The UNC Lenoir Health Care staff is uniquely qualified to achieve excellence during a challenging time. The remarkable workforce at UNC Lenoir Health Care is the reason that the hospital thrives in areas of patient safety. Patient safety is a priority across all departments and this team has proven to be the best at tackling this challenging requirement. Our employees are the heart of everything we do at UNC Lenoir Health Care and we are grateful to have a strong group of talented professionals.
  
  
• It means that UNC Lenoir Health Care is ready and able to take on reopening operations with confidence. UNC Lenoir Health Care is ready and able to begin fully operating whenever it’s deemed safe by the North Carolina and federal governments. This includes elective surgeries that may have been postponed during the pandemic. You can keep up with our schedule of operations on our website.
  
  
• It is notable that UNC Lenoir Health Care received these high marks during a pandemic. It is particularly noteworthy that UNC Lenoir achieved such high marks during a pandemic when standards and worker stress are at an all-time high. The coronavirus has required hospitals to think in unique ways to protect patient and worker safety, and UNC Lenoir Health Care has risen to the challenge, as this rating proves.
  
  

To see UNC Lenoir Health Care’s full grade details and access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit hospitalsafetygrade.org.