Samaritan Medical Center receives national recognition for meritorious outcomes from the American College of Surgeons

WATERTOWN, NY — Once again, the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP^®) has recognized Samaritan Medical Center formeritorious outcomes for surgical patient care. SMC was one of only 83 ACS NSQIP-participating hospitals in the nation to receive this recognition. Of the 83 hospitals, SMC was one of only 58 to receive distinction in both “All Cases” and “High Risk Cases” categories. The remainder of the 83 hospitals received distinction in only one of the two categories.

As a participant in ACS NSQIP, Samaritan Medical Center is required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and collect data that assess patient safety can be used to direct improvement in the quality of surgical care. The ACS NSQIP recognition program commends a select group of hospitals for achieving a composite meritorious outcome related to patient management in eight clinical areas:  mortality, unplanned intubation, ventilator > 48 hours, renal failure, cardiac incidents (cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction); respiratory (pneumonia); surgical site infection; or urinary tract infection.

“We are honored to have received this recognition from The American College of Surgeons,” states Dr.  Mario Victoria, SMC Chief Medical Officer. “This is a testament to our physicians, nurses and all support staff and their commitment to the best care possible to our patients. It validates for us and for our patients that Samaritan Medical Center delivers a level of care equal to or better than other hospitals across the nation.”

ACS NSQIP is the only nationally-validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. This program measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively, as well as risk-adjusts patient characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels. The goal of ACS NSQIP is to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure) and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the “best scientific evidence” to the practice of surgery. Furthermore, when adverse effects from surgical procedures are reduced and/or eliminated, a reduction in healthcare costs follows. ACS NSQIP is a major program of the American College of Surgeons and is currently used in over 850 adult and pediatric hospitals.