What is Pneumonia?
Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs. Many different organisms can cause it, including bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Pneumonia can range from mild to severe, and can even be deadly. The severity depends on the type of organism causing pneumonia, as well as your age and underlying health.
Learn more about Pneumonia.
How is Care Measured?
When someone has Pneumonia, timely, clear-cut treatment is critical. Evidence has shown that patients who received specific treatments and medications at certain times experienced the best outcomes. These procedures and medications include:
- Oxygenation Assessment
- Patients given Pneumococcal Vaccination if appropriate
- Blood Culture done before antibiotics given
- Smoking cessation advice/counseling
- Antibiotic given with 6 hours of arrival
- Appropriate antibiotic given
- Patients given Influenza Vaccination if appropriate
University Hospitals Case Medical Center exceeds the national average for most of the Pneumonia care standards achieved by the nation’s top hospitals.
You may view the details for each measurement by visiting the Health and Human Services web site called “Hospital Compare.”
Pneumonia
| UH Case Medical Center Hospital Process of Care Measure |
Percentage for UH Case |
State Average
|
National Average |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Assesses and Given Pneumococcal Vaccination
|
95% |
95% |
93% |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Whose Initial Emergency Room Blood Culture Was Performed Prior to the Administration of the First Hospital Dose of Antibiotics
|
95% |
97% |
96% |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Given Smoking Cessation Advice/Counseling
|
100% |
98% |
97% |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Given Initial Antibiotic(s) within 6 Hours After Arrival
|
90% |
96% |
95% |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Given the Most Appropriate Initial Antibiotic(s)
|
97% |
92% |
92% |
| Percent of Pneumonia Patients Assessed and Given Influenza Vaccination
|
89% |
93% |
91% |
How is Process of Care Measured?
University Hospitals participates in the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC): a nationwide alliance of academic medical centers and their affiliated hospitals. This group represents approximately 90% of the nation’s non-profit academic medical centers.
The UHC maintains a comparative database of healthcare measures which have been established to indicate the overall quality of commonly-performed medical procedures. Criteria for measuring Pneumonia outcomes include:
Mortality Rate
Why is this important to you as a patient?
Mortality rate is an indicator of good patient care process.
A lower number is better.
How do we compare outcomes?
UHCMC participates in the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC) comparative database along with more than 100 other academic centers across the country. The national comparison shown below compares our outcomes to those of other nationally-recognized academic medical centers.
Results:
UHCMC’s Pneumonia mortality rate is better than expected.