North York General Hospital Receives National Recognition for Meritorious Outcomes From the American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP^®) has recognized North York General Hospital as one of 90 ACS NSQIP participating hospitals that have achieved meritorious outcomes for surgical patient care in 2020.  As a participant in ACS NSQIP, North York General Hospital is required to track the outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical procedures and collect data that assesses patient safety and can be used to direct improvement in the quality of surgical care.

The ACS NSQIP recognition program commends a select group of hospitals for achieving a meritorious composite score in either an “All Cases” category or a category which includes only “High Risk” cases. Risk-adjusted data from the July 2021 ACS NSQIP Semiannual Report, which presents data from the 2020 calendar year, were used to determine which hospitals demonstrated meritorious outcomes. North York General Hospital has been recognized on both the “All Cases” and “High Risk” Meritorious lists.

 “This recognition from the American College of Surgeons is a testament to the dedication, skill and commitment of our surgical teams in delivering outstanding care to patients at North York General,” says Linda Jussaume, RN and Program Director of Surgery at North York General Hospital. “It validates how serious we take our responsibility to continually strive for high standards and better outcomes as the number one community academic hospital in Canada.”

Each composite score was determined through a different weighted formula combining eight outcomes. The outcome performances related to patient management were in the following eight clinical areas: mortality, unplanned intubation, ventilator > 48 hours, renal failure, cardiac incidents (cardiac arrest and myocardial infarction); respiratory (pneumonia); SSI (surgical site infections-superficial and deep incisional and organ-space SSIs); or urinary tract infection. 

The 90 commended hospitals achieved the distinction based on their outstanding composite quality score across the eight areas listed above. 71 hospitals were initially recognized on the “All Cases” list and 71 hospitals were initially recognized on the “High Risk” list; the 71 hospitals represent approximately ten percent of the 706 calendar-year 2020 ACS NSQIP hospitals. 52 hospitals are recognized on both the “All Cases” and “High Risk” lists, 19 other hospitals are on just the “All Cases” list, and 19 other hospitals are on the “High Risk” list only – yielding 90 hospitals in total.

 “Receiving meritorious status under the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program is a badge of honour for the surgical teams at North York General,” says Dr. Lloyd Smith, Chief of Surgery at North York General Hospital. “This recognition means we have exceeded performance standards across our surgical programs as determined by a rigorous review process. Patients can be assured they will receive exceptional care when they walk through our doors.”

ACS NSQIP is the only nationally validated quality improvement program that measures and enhances the care of surgical patients. This program measures the actual surgical results 30 days postoperatively as well as risk adjusts patient characteristics to compensate for differences among patient populations and acuity levels.  The goal is to reduce surgical morbidity (infection or illness related to a surgical procedure) and surgical mortality (death related to a surgical procedure) and to provide a firm foundation for surgeons to apply what is known as the “best scientific evidence” to the practice of surgery.  Furthermore, when adverse effects from surgical procedures are reduced and/or eliminated, a reduction in health care costs follows.  ACS NSQIP is a major program of the American College of Surgeons and is currently used in nearly 850 adult and pediatric hospitals.

The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient.  The College is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients.  The College has more than 82,000 members and it is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.

North York General Hospital is a leading community academic hospital. NYGH provides a range of acute, ambulatory, and seniors’ care across seven sites to more than 400,000 people in North York and to populations beyond. NYGH has a 192-bed LTC home, Seniors’ Health Centre, among the busiest three Emergency Departments in the GTA and one of the highest volume single-site birthing centres in Canada (top five). The hospital is well known for its clinical excellence, research and teaching. For the third year in a row, NYGH was ranked the top community academic hospital in Canada by Newsweek Magazine. www.nygh.on.ca.

For more information, contact NYGH Corporate Communications and Public Affairs: corporate.communications@nygh.on.ca