Kern River Valley Healthcare District CEO Tim McGlew celebrates recognition on 2023 Patient Safety Honor Roll

Kern River Valley Healthcare District CEO Tim McGlew expressed his elation as the district’s hospital was honored on the 2023 Patient Safety Honor Roll, a prestigious recognition highlighting high-performing hospitals across California in the realm of patient safety.

The 2023 Patient Safety Honor Roll acknowledges the exceptional commitment of hospitals to maintain high standards of patient safety.

This year’s Honor Roll recognized 82 adult, acute care hospitals in California for their exceptional commitment to patient safety across various domains, including hospital-acquired infections, adverse patient safety events, sepsis management and patient experience.

The prestigious recognition, based on rigorous evaluation criteria, aims to provide Californians with a list of hospitals that consistently prioritize a strong culture of safety.

This recognition is based solely on publicly available data and emphasizes the complexity of calculating patient safety standards, encompassing a multitude of factors.

“One of the big things they said is patient safety is probably one of the hardest ones to do because it’s so complex in terms of how they calculate. There are so many things that they look at,” McGlew told the Kern Valley Sun.

Out of the 347 hospitals considered, only 24% of hospitals in the evaluation met the stringent performance standards for patient safety.  

“This is the first year that we’ve been recognized,” McGlew said. “We’re very happy about that. It’s something I particularly looked forward to for this hospital because I know we do good work.”

McGlew highlighted the importance of celebrating this achievement both for the community and the hardworking employees who contributed to the success of the hospital.

“This is a big deal,” McGlew said. “I totally respect the work that our employees do. I am thrilled working with them day in and day out. I’ve been here almost 15 years now, and it’s just it’s an honor to work here alongside them. It’s because they’re the ones that make it happen.”

McGlew also recognized the pivotal role of the hospital’s Director for Quality, Dana Griffith, in collecting and submitting the necessary data for the honor.

“She’s the one that pulls all this stuff together and has it submitted and everything else,” McGlew said.

He added that when Griffith was recognized at the most recent Kern Valley Heathcare District Board meeting she attributed the recognition to the dedicated staff on the front lines, emphasizing the collective effort that makes it all possible.

McGlew added the work for a community hospital is just that, for the community.

“We do this for the community, and we have been, ever since we opened this place 52 years ago,” McGlew said. ”It’s a privilege to be able to serve the community and make sure that we do that in a way that’s meaningful. From a care perspective, we want people to recognize the good things that happen here.”