Quality & Safety

Quality and Safety are Central to Everything We Do

At the University of Chicago Medicine, our quality and safety team works together to ensure we follow the highest standards for care — from preventing infections and continuously improving surgical care, to achieving high success rates for even the most complex procedures.

Video Transcript

It's one of the biggest achievements a hospital or medical center can earn. An A by The Leapfrog Group indicates excellent work by health care facilities to protect patients' safety.

I think we can agree that there's no more important priority for a hospital than the ability to assure our patients that when they come here, they're going to be treated in a safe environment and that they're going to receive the highest quality patient care.

U Chicago Medicine continually works to improve patient safety. Safety stations are spread all around the facility, and staff is required to protect patients from the spread of flu. These are just a few examples of the many efforts to protect against the spread of infection.

There's a foundational culture that you can see every day amongst all members of the team that really, I think, supports the success that we've had in the quality and safety of the care we provide.

All staff members play an important role in patient safety. Everyone realizes the goal of protecting those that we care for. And we all take this responsibility seriously.

I think there's a real level of pride in providing that type of care, high-quality, safe care to patients. It's something that it makes sense to do.

Front line care is critical to patient safety, and that includes our nursing staff. Nurses often provide the link between the bedside and physicians.

I think the Leap Frog designation really speaks to the work that all of the nurses are doing every single day to make sure that our patients are safe, and it's really what we're here for.

The nursing team is one area of strength when it comes to patient safety, heading off problems before they happen. For example, they work to prevent pressure ulcers and communicate patient feedback to physicians and other caregivers throughout the facility.

So it's really evidence of all of the work that we've done across the medical center to make sure that patient safety is a priority, and specifically, looking at nursing interventions and making sure that we put evidence-based practice in across the medical center for each patient.

It all adds up to world class, high-quality care that is synonymous with the U Chicago Medicine name and reputation.

What this indicates is that we're all committed to providing the best quality care to our patients, to providing a safe environment. It should be a source of great pride. It's a huge accomplishment, and I'd like to congratulate all of you on an outstanding job.

We continuously track — and report — hundreds of quality measures. This information measures our progress and helps us set goals for even better care. We invite you to explore data provided on this site, as well as on public websites that report hospital quality measures, such as the three below — Hospital Compare, Illinois Hospital Report Card and The Leapfrog Group. And we encourage you to contact us with questions about quality measures and suggestions for how we can make your patient care experience the best it can be.

Contact Us

Center for Quality

The Center for Quality's goals are to measure, assess and improve the performance of key clinical care processes, so that the University of Chicago Medicine consistently achieves the best patient care outcomes. For inquiries about quality measures, call 773-702-2723.

The University of Chicago Medicine
Center for Quality
5841 S. Maryland Avenue, MC 2009
Chicago, IL 60637

Patient Safety and Risk Management Department

The mission of the Patient Safety and Risk Management Department is based on a philosophy of proactive risk assessment to identify threats to patient safety prior to the occurrence of an adverse event. For information about patient safety and risk management, call 773-834-0473.

Krista M. Curell, JD, RN
Vice President, Risk Management, Patient Safety & Compliance

The University of Chicago Medicine
Patient Safety and Risk Management
850 E. 58th Street, MC 1135
Chicago, IL 60637

Office of Patient Relations

The faculty and staff of the University of Chicago Medicine hope that you and your family have a positive experience here.

Our patient relations specialists are eager to receive your feedback about care and service. We are available to serve as your intermediary and advocate. To speak with a patient relations specialist, call 773-834-0500.

The Office of Patient Relations can assist you in the following ways:

Receive compliments for outstanding physician and staff members
Serve as a formal grievance mechanism for you and your family
Bridge the gap where you feel your expectations have not been met
Visit us in the Center for Care and Discovery Sky Lobby or the Mitchell Lobby

The University of Chicago Medicine
Office of Patient Relations
5841 South Maryland Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637

How We Compare

Hospital Compare

On Hospital Compare, site visitors can view and compare a variety of quality measures for hospitals, including data related to heart attack care, surgical care improvement and patient satisfaction. The data is updated quarterly and is maintained by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

View and compare hospital data

Illinois Hospital Report Card

The Illinois Hospital Report Card offers some of the same information that is reported on Hospital Compare, as well as data about nursing staff levels and volumes of specific procedures performed. This site is maintained by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

View and compare hospital data

The Leapfrog Group

The Leapfrog Group is a consortium of employer organizations that have set standards for measuring hospital quality, health care safety and customer value. Measures reported on the Leapfrog site include information about adherence to safe practices and surgical volumes for complex procedures.

See Leapfrog hospital reports