Bay Regional Medical Center in Top 3 in U.S. for ICU Nutrition Services
Local Hospital is Ranked 45th in International Survey
January 28, 2009
By: Dave Rogers
Bay Regional Medical Center (BRMC) was rated as having the third best nutrition services among hospitals in the United States.
Researchers have found that malnutrition is common in intensive care units (ICUs) in hospitals around the world.
So health practitioners at Bay Regional Medical Center participated in the 2008 International Nutrition Survey with an aim to improve the quality of care received by critically ill patients.
As a result of having participated in the survey, Bay Regional Medical Center (BRMC) was rated as having the third best nutrition services among hospitals in the United States.
And, the local hospital also was ranked 45th among hospitals in the world for critical care nutrition, according to the International Nutrition Survey. A total of 81 sites internationally were eligible for consideration for the "Best of the Best" award, survey officials said.
For the survey, data was collected from each participating hospital on site characteristics, patient demographics, direct observational data, length of stay, duration of ventilation and mortality.
In addition, information was collected for up to 12 days on nutrition practices such as route of nutrition, kilocalorie and protein levels prescribed and received, blood sugars, insulin received and other supplementation.
To be eligible the patient needed to be an adult patient over 18 years old, on the ventilator within 48 hours of admission to the ICU, and in the unit three days.
"The prevalence of nutrition is high in ICUs and has a negative impact on clinical outcomes," officials of the survey said. "Providing patients with the right nutrition improves wound healing, boosts the immune system, and helps the gastrointestinal tract work more effectively, which together favorably influences the chance of surviving critical illness."
Among the world hospitals, tops were Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand; Kingston General Hospital, Kingston, Canada; and Regional Hospital A, Cardarelli, Italy.
BRMC is part of a system of eight regional hospitals including also Bay Special Care Hospital, Bay City; Ingham Regional Medical Center, Lansing; Ingham Regional Medical Center, Lapeer; McLaren Regional Medical Center, Flint; Mount Clemens Regional Medical Center, Mt. Clemens; and POH Medical Center, Pontiac.
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Flint, has been recognized as one of the top Integrated Health Networks in the nation by Verispan, a health care rating agency.
McLaren is one of the largest health care providers in the state, reaching nearly 35 percent of Michigan residents through more than 150 locations, 15,000 employees and 3,600 physicians.###