At UF Health, quality is Job 1, and we aim to provide our patients with the highest level of clinical care and the best possible experience.

Every effort is made to consistently meet and exceed the most stringent standards for patient care outcomes, safety, service and satisfaction. By pursuing the newest and most advanced technologies, hiring and retaining a highly skilled staff as well as promoting a culture of safety and excellence, UF Health has created an impressive quality record.

National criteria and benchmarking guide hospital systems to continually assess their performance and raise the bar. This summer, UF Health Shands leaders refocused hospital quality and safety goals to more clearly align with the standards set by Vizient.

Vizient, formerly known as University HealthSystem Consortium, represents more than 100 academic hospitals and compares their reported quality and safety data to issue an annual scorecard. The Vizient Quality and Accountability Study star rankings are considered the health care industry’s most respected evaluation of clinical quality and safety outcomes.

Vizient measures outcomes in six domains:
• Mortality
• Efficiency
• Safety
• Effectiveness
• Equity
• Patient-centeredness

Using these standards as markers will help ensure UF Health stays committed to delivering an exceptional care experience for every patient, improving quality of care and enhancing organizational efficiencies. Helping to lead this effort is Shelley Wells Collins, M.D., FAAP, UF Health Shands associate chief medical officer and interim director of clinical quality.

“None of us can do this alone,“ said Collins, a UF College of Medicine associate professor of pediatrics and UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital inpatient medical director. “We must learn from each other and share our experiences. There is tremendous work being done at UF Health in the realm of quality and safety … we must share it and be transparent.”

Leaders aim to provide a clear direction for patient care based on how the hospital system compares with its peers. The Vizient Scorecard is the most appropriate tool to reflect our progress.

“As part of a top-tier academic health center, we hold ourselves to incredibly high standards and tend to be very hard on ourselves,“ said UF Health Shands CEO Ed Jimenez. “Our faculty and staff are always focused on what we can do for our patients to improve outcomes and service. As we strive to keep improving, let’s not lose sight of the outstanding work already accomplished and build on that.”

For 2016, Vizient awarded UF Health Shands a three-star rating out of five. Scores reflect the system being “effective“ (close to four stars) in overall efficiency, mortality and safety.

An area targeted for improvement is infection control. Handwashing is the first line of defense, and UF College of Medicine epidemiology experts are collaborating with UF Health Shands Hospital infection control, nursing and operations departments on these efforts. Hospital readmissions also continue to be a challenge in addition to emergency room processes and patient throughput (their navigation through the system to be efficiently evaluated, diagnosed, treated and discharged).

“We must celebrate our successes and acknowledge and attend to our failures,” Collins said. “It is how we move forward and it is how we get better.”

The UF Health Power of Together strategic plan guides our organization’s efforts as we strive to deliver exceptional service, value and quality to every patient at every encounter. With sustained high patient volumes and projected growth, it is imperative to stay focused on clinical outcome goals and hospitality and service standards.

“We have to know what we are working toward,“ said Collins. “Engaging the people who are at the bedside, and caring for our patients, helps us understand where we should spend our energy. We’re on track and we appreciate everyone’s continued commitment as we move medicine forward.”