Five hospitals in San Diego County were named "Top Performers" today by The Joint Commission, which accredits medical facilities nationwide.
Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas, Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla, Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, Kaiser Foundation Hospital in San Diego and Sharp Memorial Hospital, also in San Diego, were among 620 hospitals nationwide that met two 95 percent performance thresholds on 2011 accountability data. The total is up 50 percent from last year.
All five were cited for high quality care for treating victims of heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia and surgery.
The accountability standards included giving aspirin to heart attack victims upon arrival and discharge; providing antibiotics to pneumonia sufferers; and administering antibiotics to surgical patients within one hour of the first cut and stopping the medications in 24 hours.
Categories in which area hospitals did not appear included treatment for children's asthma, strokes and venous thromboembolisms—which includes deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolisms—and psychiatric care.
The Joint Commission, an independent, not-for-profit organization, accredits and certifies more than 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, according to its website.
—City News Service
Editor's note: A previous version of this article referred to "Best Performers."
