Our commitment to safe, high-quality health care

Key Quality Indicators at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health

At Stanford Medicine Children’s Health, our vision is to heal humanity through science and compassion, one child and family at a time. Central to our vision is our unwavering commitment to safe, high-quality healthcare. We are proud to be recognized as a leading healthcare system, not just in Northern California, but across the nation. As part of our deep commitment to continuous improvement, we are publicly sharing our performance on several of our key quality indicators: hand hygiene, CLABSI, surgical site infections, and patient experience.

Hand hygiene

Hand hygiene, also known as washing your hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer, is one of the best ways to stay healthy and prevent the spread of germs. It helps stop the spread of infections in places like hospitals. Every day, our hospital checks and tracks hand-washing practices. This helps us see how well we are doing, and where we can do better. 

CLABSI

A central line is a special IV or intravenous line that is placed into a large vein in the neck, chest, arm, or leg. It is usually left in place for a longer time than a regular IV. It is used in children who need medicine, nutrition, or blood products for a long time. A CLABSI, also called a central line-associated bloodstream infection, can happen when germs enter the bloodstream through the central line, leading to an infection. This can cause health problems that need urgent medical care. To stop CLABSIs from happening, we follow the best practices for placing and caring for central lines. 

Surgical site infections

A surgical site infection can happen when germs enter the body through the area where surgery happened. We take careful steps before, during, and after surgeries to lower the risk of surgical site infections. We partner with many healthcare organizations that work together to find the best methods for reducing the risk of surgical site infections.

Patient experience

Patient experience includes everything that happens to a patient at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. It includes how:

  • They feel about the care they get
  • Well doctors and nurses listen to them,
  • Comfortable they feel, and
  • Easy it is to get help when they need it. 

At our hospital, one way we check how we’re doing is through patient experience surveys. These surveys are given to randomly selected patients and families after their clinic visits, hospital stays, or surgeries. Our goal is to have our patients and families rate us very likely to recommend our hospital for their care.