NUMC named tops on LI for patient safety

The Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council has given its annual excellence in patient safety award to Nassau University Medical Center.

NUMC received the highest score of the 20 Long Island medical centers considered for the citation, said Kevin Dahill, president and chief executive of the council.

The medical center was cited for its zero rate of bloodstream infections in the medical intensive care, surgical intensive care and critical care units from May through October 2010.

Achieving that rate helped the center improve statistics from previous years.

Nominees for the award were scored on patient care and safety, innovation, adherence to quality improvement and a range of other measures.

NUMC's medical director, Dr. Steven Walerstein, congratulated Maureen Shannon, the center's head of quality management, who put an initiative in place to help drive down rates of infection from central line catheters. The devices can be placed in the neck, chest or groin, and can be a source of hospital-acquired infections.