Skip over navigation
- Home
- Patient and Visitor Info
- Physicians
- Services
- Clinical Trials
- Event Calendar
- Locations
- Health Library
- About Duke Medicine
Quick Links
- Patient Care Quality and Safety
- | Performance Measures
- | Safety and Quality Awards
- | Improvement Initiatives
- | Contact Us with Concerns
Heart Attack Patients Given Beta Blocker at Discharge
Share
Note: The chart on this page requires the Flash viewer. To see it, download and install the Flash plugin here:
Macromedia Flash Player
| Institution | Rating |
|---|---|
| U.S. Average1 | 99% |
| N.C. Average2 | 99% |
| Top Hospitals3 | 100% |
| Duke Raleigh Hospital | 100% |
| Duke University Hospital | 100% |
| Durham Regional Hospital | 100% |
The rates displayed in this graph are for discharges April 2011 through March 2012.
Source:
hospitalcompare.hhs.gov
(1) The U.S. average includes all reporting hospitals in the United States.
(2) The N.C. average includes all reporting hospitals in the state of North Carolina.
(3) "Top Hospitals" represent the top 10% of hospitals nationwide. These hospitals achieved 100% on this measure.
What Does This Measure?
The percentage of eligible heart attack patients who were prescribed beta blockers on discharge.
Why Is This Important?
Beta blockers are a type of medicine that physicians prescribe to lower blood pressure, treat angina (chest pain) and heart failure, and help prevent heart attacks.
They lessen the heart’s workload by reducing the force with which the heart pumps blood. Doctors should prescribe beta blockers for most heart attack patients when they leave the hospital.
What Are We Doing to Improve Our Performance?
Duke has enacted several initiatives to improve our performance. These include:
- Computerized physician order entry (CPOE)
- Electronic medical records (EMR)
- Evidence-based medicine
- HealthView patient portal
- Heart attack-specific discharge instructions and patient education information
- Nursing and physician education
- Patient advocacy and support groups
- Patient rounding
- Patient safety and clinical quality committees
- Six Sigma
- Standardized order sets
More Information
