Aspirin can help keep blood clots from forming and dissolve blood clots that can cause heart attacks. The heart is a muscle that gets oxygen through blood vessels. Sometimes blood clots can block these blood vessels, and the heart cant get enough oxygen. This can cause a heart attack. Chewing an aspirin as soon as symptoms of a heart attack begin may help reduce the severity of the attack. This chart shows the percent of heart attack patients who were given (or took) aspirin within 24 hours of arrival at the hospital.

Why is this Important?

The heart is a muscle that gets oxygen through blood vessels. Sometimes blood clots can block these blood vessels, and the heart can’t get enough oxygen. This can cause a heart attack. Chewing an aspirin as soon as symptoms of a heart attack begin may help reduce the severity of the attack. This chart shows the percent of heart attack patients who were given (or took) aspirin within 24 hours of arrival at the hospital.

Higher percentages are better.

Blood clots can block blood vessels. Aspirin can help prevent blood clots from forming or help dissolve blood clots that have formed. Following a heart attack, continued use of aspirin may help reduce the risk of another heart attack. Aspirin can have side effects like stomach inflammation, bleeding, or allergic reactions. Talk to your health care provider before using aspirin on a regular basis to make sure its safe for you.

Why is this Important?

Blood clots can block blood vessels. Aspirin can help prevent blood clots from forming or help dissolve blood clots that have formed. Following a heart attack, continued use of aspirin may help reduce the risk of another heart attack. Aspirin can have side effects like stomach inflammation, bleeding, or allergic reactions. Talk to your health care provider before using aspirin on a regular basis to make sure it’s safe for you.

Higher percentages are better.

Why is this Important?

ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors and ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers) are medicines used to treat patients with heart failure and are particularly beneficial in those patients with heart failure and decreased function of the left side of the heart. Early treatment with ACE inhibitors and ARBs in patients who have heart failure symptoms or decreased heart function after a heart attack can also reduce their risk of death from future heart attacks. ACE inhibitors and ARBs work by limiting the effects of a hormone that narrows blood vessels, and may thus lower blood pressure and reduce the work the heart has to perform. Since the ways in which these two kinds of drugs work are different, your doctor will decide which drug is most appropriate for you. If you have a heart attack and/or heart failure, you should get a prescription for ACE inhibitors or ARBs if you have decreased heart function before you leave the hospital.

Why is this Important?

Smoking increases your risk for developing blood clots and heart disease that can result in a heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Smoking causes your arteries to thicken and your blood vessels to narrow. Fat and plaque stick to the walls of your arteries, which makes it harder for blood to flow. Reduced blood flow to your heart may result in chest pain, high blood pressure, and an increased heart rate. Smoking is also linked to lung disease and cancer, and can cause premature death. It is important that you get information to help you quit smoking before you leave the hospital. Quitting may help prevent another heart attack.

Higher percentages are better.

Beta blockers are a type of medicine that is used to lower blood pressure, treat chest pain (angina) and heart failure, and to help prevent a heart attack. Beta blockers relieve the stress on your heart by slowing the heart rate and reducing the force with which your heart muscles contract to pump blood. They also help keep blood vessels from constricting in your heart, brain, and body. If you have a heart attack, you should get a prescription for a beta blocker before you leave the hospital.

Beta blockers are a type of medicine that is used to lower blood pressure, treat chest pain (angina) and heart failure, and to help prevent a heart attack. Beta blockers relieve the stress on the heart by slowing the heart rate and reducing the force with which the heart muscle contracts (to pump blood). Most heart attack patients should be given a beta blocker within 24 hours of arriving at the hospital.

The heart is a muscle that gets oxygen through blood vessels. Sometimes blood clots can block these blood vessels, and the heart cant get enough oxygen. This can cause a heart attack. Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) is one of a class of Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI), which are among the most effective ways to open blocked blood vessels and help prevent further heart muscle damage. A PCI is performed by a doctor to open the blockage and increase blood flow in blocked blood vessels. Improving blood flow to your heart as quickly as possible lessens the damage to your heart muscle. It also can increase your chances of surviving a heart attack. There are three procedures commonly described by the term PCI. These procedures all involve a catheter (a flexible tube) that is inserted, often through your leg, and guided through the blood vessels to the blockage.

The three procedures are: 

• Angioplasty - a balloon is inflated to open the blood vessel (PTCA).
• Stenting - a small wire tube called a stent is placed in the blood vessel to hold it open.
• Atherectomy - a blade or laser cuts through and removes the blockage.

Heart failure is a chronic condition. It results in symptoms such as shortness of breath, dizziness, and fatigue. Before you leave the hospital, the staff at the hospital should provide you with information to help you manage the symptoms after you get home.

The information should include your

• activity level (what you can and cant do)
• diet (what you should, and shouldnt eat or drink)
• medications
• follow-up appointment
• watching your daily weight
• what to do if your symptoms get worse

The proper treatment for heart failure depends on what area of your heart is affected. An important test is to check how your heart is pumping, called the left ventricular function assessment. It can tell your health care provider whether the left side of your heart is pumping properly.

Other ways to check on how your heart is pumping include:

• your medical history
• a physical examination
• listening to your heart sounds 
• other tests as ordered by a physician (like an ECG (electrocardiogram), chest x-ray, blood work, and an echocardiogram)

Higher percentages are better.

Why is this Important?

ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors and ARBs (angiotensin receptor blockers) are medicines used to treat patients with heart failure and are particularly beneficial in those patients with heart failure and decreased function of the left side of the heart. Early treatment with ACE inhibitors and ARBs in patients who have heart failure symptoms or decreased heart function after a heart attack can also reduce their risk of death from future heart attacks.

ACE inhibitors and ARBs work by limiting the effects of a hormone that narrows blood vessels, and may thus lower blood pressure and reduce the work the heart has to perform. Since the ways in which these two kinds of drugs work are different, your doctor will decide which drug is most appropriate for you.

If you have a heart attack and/or heart failure, you should get a prescription for ACE inhibitors or ARBs if you have decreased heart function before you leave the hospital.

Why is this Important?

Smoking increases your risk for developing blood clots and heart disease, which can result in a heart attack, heart failure or stroke. Smoking causes your blood vessels to thicken. Fat and plaque then stick to the wall of your blood vessels, which makes it harder for blood to flow. Reduced blood flow to your heart may result in chest pain, high blood pressure, and an increased heart rate. Smoking is linked to lung disease and cancer, and can cause premature death. It is important for your health that you get information to help you quit smoking before you leave the hospital.

Higher percentages are better.

The pneumococcal vaccine may help you prevent, or lower the risk of complications of pneumonia caused by bacteria. It may also help you prevent future infections. Patients with pneumonia should be asked if they have been vaccinated recently for pneumonia and, if not, should be given the vaccine.

Higher percentages are better.

Why is this Important?

Different types of bacteria can cause pneumonia. A blood culture is a test that can help your health care provider identify which bacteria may have caused your pneumonia, and which antibiotic should be prescribed. A blood culture is not always needed, but for patients who are first seen in the hospital emergency department, it is important for the accuracy of the test that blood culture be conducted before any antibiotics are started. It is also important to start antibiotics as soon as possible.

Higher percentages are better.

Smoking damages your lungs and can make it hard to breath. Smoking increases your chances of getting pneumonia or other chronic lung diseases like emphysema and bronchitis. Smoking is also linked to lung cancer, heart disease, and stroke, and can cause premature death. It is important for you to get information to help you quit smoking before you leave the hospital. Quitting may reduce your chance of getting pneumonia again.

Higher percentages are better.

Antibiotics are used to treat adults with pneumonia caused by bacteria. Early treatment with antibiotics can cure bacterial pneumonia and reduce the possibility of complications. This information shows the percent of patients who were given their first dose of antibiotics within 6 hours of arrival at the hospital. Patients who get pneumonia during their stay at the hospital are not counted in this measure.

Higher percentages are better.

Why is this Important?

 

Pneumonia is a lung infection that is usually caused by bacteria or a virus. If pneumonia is caused by bacteria, hospitals will treat the infection with antibiotics. Different bacteria are treated with different antibiotics. To learn about how hospitals use a blood test to choose the most effective treatment for pneumonia patients, refer to the Process of Care measure named 'Percent of Pneumonia Patients Whose Initial Emergency Room Blood Culture Was Performed Prior To The Administration Of The First Hospital Dose Of Antibiotics'.

Higher percentages are better.

Why is it Important?

Flu shots reduce the risk of influenza, a serious and sometimes deadly lung infection that can spread quickly in a community or facility. Hospitals should check to make sure that pneumonia patients, particularly those who are age 50 or older, get a flu shot during flu season to protect them from another lung infection and to help prevent the spread of influenza.

Since a flu shot is effective for just one flu season, the period of time used to calculate this rate is the flu season (from approximately November through March), in contrast to other measures on Hospital Compare, which are generally collected throughout the year.

Higher percentages are better.

Antibiotics are medicines to prevent and treat infections. Research shows that surgery patients who get antibiotics within the hour before their operation are less likely to get wound infections. Getting an antibiotic earlier, or after surgery begins, is not as effective. This shows how often hospitals make sure surgery patients get antibiotics at the right time.

At FMC and VVMC there are strict policies, procedures and guidelines followed to determine if the correct antibiotic, based on the type of surgery, was selected for the patient.

Certain antibiotics are recommended to help prevent wound infection for particular types of surgery. This measure looks at how often hospital surgical patients get the appropriate antibiotic in order to prevent a surgical wound infection.

Infections continue to be the main preventable complication of most surgical procedures. Antibiotics are medicines to prevent and treat infections. By following the standard guidelines for timing and giving you the correct antibiotic drug, hospitals can reduce your risk of getting a wound infection after surgery.

Hospitals can reduce the risk of wound infection after surgery by making sure patients get the right medicines at the right time on the day of their surgery. These quality measures show some of the standards of care.

Higher percentages are better.

Why is this Important?

Antibiotics are medicines to prevent and treat infections. While the likelihood of infection after surgery can be reduced by giving patients preventative antibiotics, taking these antibiotics for more than 24 hours after routine surgery is usually not necessary and can increase the risk of side effects such as stomach aches, serious types of diarrhea, and antibiotic resistance (when antibiotics are used too much, they will not work anymore.) There are exceptions – for example, where the surgical site has been contaminated (making the surgery not routine). Talk to your doctor if you have questions about how long you should take antibiotics after surgery.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a condition in which blood clots in the leg veins break off and travel through the blood, blocking lung arteries. This indicator measures whether an order was placed for adult (over age 18) surgical patients to be assessed for VTE risk.

Why is this Important?

Certain types of surgery can increase the risk of blood clots forming in the veins. This is because patients don’t move much during and, usually, after some surgeries.

Venous thrombosis is a condition in which a blood clot (thrombus) forms in a vein. This clot can limit blood flow, causing swelling, redness and pain. Most commonly, clots occur in the legs, thighs, or pelvis.

If a part or all of the clot breaks off from where it was formed, it can travel through the veins. The part that breaks off is called an embolus. If the embolus lodges in the lung, it is called a pulmonary embolism, a serious condition that can cause death.

A number of factors can increase a patient’s risk of developing blood clots, but doctors can order preventive treatments called prophylaxis to reduce the risk. Prophylaxis may include blood thinning medications, elastic support stockings, or mechanical air stockings that promote circulation in the legs.

Higher percentages are better.

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a condition in which blood clots in leg veins break off and travel through the blood, blocking lung arteries. This indicator measures the percentage of adult (over age 18) surgical patients who are assessed for VTE risk within 24 hours prior to and following surgery.

Why is this Important?

Treatment(s) to prevent blood clots must be given at the right time to prevent blood clots forming after selected surgeries.

Venous thrombosis is a condition in which a blood clot (thrombus) forms in a vein. This clot can limit blood flow, causing swelling, redness and pain. Most commonly, clots occur in the legs, thighs, or pelvis.

If a part or all of the clot breaks off from where it was formed, it can travel through the veins. The part that breaks off is called an embolus. If the embolus lodges in the lung, it is called a pulmonary embolism, a serious condition that can cause death.

A number of factors can increase a patient’s risk of developing blood clots, but doctors can order preventive treatments called prophylaxis to reduce the risk. Prophylaxis may include blood thinning medications, elastic support stockings, or mechanical air stockings that promote circulation in the legs.

Higher percentages are better.