Methodist Healthcare System | Keeping Well | Winter 2020

FiveMethodist Healthcare Hospitals Get “A’s” for Safety Five Methodist Healthcare System hos- pitals were awarded an “A” from The Leapfrog Group’s Fall 2019 Hospital Safety Grade. Methodist Healthcare hospitals were awarded an “A” for their efforts in protecting patients from harm and providing safer healthcare. The Safety Grade assigns an A, B, C, D or F grade to hospitals across the country based on their performance in prevent- ing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms among pa- tients in their care. The Methodist Healthcare facilities receiving A’s include: ●  ● Methodist Hospital | Metropolitan ●  ● Methodist Hospital | South ●  ● Methodist Hospital | Specialty and Transplant ●  ● Methodist Hospital | Stone Oak ●  ● Methodist Hospital | Texsan Receiving a grade of “B” were Methodist Children’s Hospital, Methodist Hospital and Methodist Hospital | Northeast. Making the safety honor roll is not new for these hospitals. Methodist Hospital | Metropolitan earned an “A” for the seventh time in a row, and Methodist Hospital | Specialty and Transplant has earned an “A” grade for four consecutive reports. “We are committed to meeting the highest safety standards in the in- dustry for our patients, and our com- mitment has been quite consistent across Methodist hospitals,” said Allen Harrison, CEO, Methodist Healthcare. “It is an unbelievable achievement to continue to rank among the safest hos- pitals in the region.” Developed under the guidance of a National Expert Panel, the Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade uses 28 measures of publicly available hospital safety data to assign grades to more than 2,600 U.S. hos- pitals twice per year. The Hospital Safety Grade’s methodology is peer-reviewed and fully transparent, and the results are free to the public. To see Methodist Healthcare’s full grade details and to access patient tips for staying safe in the hospital, visit HospitalSafetyGrade.org , and followThe Leapfrog Group on Twitter and Facebook. Methodist Hospital Uses New Lung Biopsy Technology to Help Diagnose Lung Cancer Earlier than Ever Before Methodist Hospital is one of only 15 centers in the coun- try, and among just two healthcare facilities in Texas, to perform a minimally invasive peripheral lung biopsy using robotic-assisted technology. This major medical advance- ment offers doctors unprecedented stability providing the precision needed for biopsy far into the peripheral lung and to more easily diagnose lung cancer earlier than ever before. The robot features an ultra-thin, easily maneuverable catheter that can move 180 degrees in all directions, which doctors can navigate through small and tortuous airways to reach nodules in any airway segment within the lung. The robot’s flexible biopsy needle can also pass through very tight bends via the catheter to collect tissue in the peripheral lung, enabling a more precise biopsy and easier surgical experience for patients. The robot is designed to access difficult to reach areas of the lung through natural openings, like the mouth. When used for lung cancer screening, it supports early diagnosis by sampling tissue from small nodules in hard to reach areas of the lung where previous tools and pro- cedures were unable to reach. “With the ability to go through the natural airways of the lung with this technology, there is no puncturing of the lung tissue from the outside of the lining of the lung,” commented pulmonologist Ali Abedi, MD . “It becomes a safer way to approach some of these lesions that are in the periphery of the lung for patients who have fairly advanced underlying lung disease.” Prior to this advancement, the preferred method to reach abnormal spots that were in the periphery of the lung was to use a live CT scan image and a needle, enter- ing the chest wall and lung from outside the body. This presented a relatively high risk of injuring the lung tissue and causing the lung to collapse for some patients who had advanced lung disease with emphysema. “We’re always excited to be involved in new innovations in the field of pulmonology and interventional pulmonol- ogy. Not only will we be providing a valuable service for our patients, but we’ll also be participating in the devel- opment of this new technology. We will be able to collect data, which will help us advance this procedure and make this type of sampling of lung tissue more efficient in the future,” stated Abedi. Napoleon Puente, MD, and Ali Abedi, MD, pulmonologists with the Methodist Advanced Lung Center, conducted its first robotically-assisted lung biopsy procedure. W I N T E R 2 0 2 0 K E E P I N G W E L L 5 N E W S , V I E W S & T I P S H E A L T H T A L K