Quality and Safety Measures | Patients & Visitors | UC Davis Health

Commitment to Quality and Safety

Quality and Safety Measures

At UC Davis Medical Center we make a special effort to provide safe, high-quality care for all patients. Our staff earn outside honors for quality, safety and patient satisfaction, while treating and researching the most complex health conditions.

Our culture of safety is a team effort. All of our staff help to plan patient safety measures for their areas, and attend regular trainings. We also have quality committees that look at individual cases for ways to improve.

More Examples of Safety Measures

  • Surgery checklists – These help us communicate well before, during, and after operations.
  • Safety protocols for central-line catheters – These special IVs are often used with very sick patients.
  • Checking patients upon admission – For risk of self-injury and falls.
  • Follow-up checks – Phone calls with vulnerable patients to review care plans.
  • The Speak Up program – Urges and shows patients ways to be empowered during their care.
  • The Code Help program – A special phone hotline for urgent hospital care concerns.
  • Reviewing safety data – Info from medical journals and other hospitals helps us gauge our progress and keep up with best practices.
  • The Joint Commission patient-safety programs – The Joint Commission is a nonprofit that accredits hospitals and works to increase quality and safety. 
  • Educating new providers – Many proven safety practices have been pioneered at academic medical centers like ours. 

Voluntary Public Reporting

UC Davis Medical Center takes part in public reporting initiatives about quality care and patient safety. Some examples:

The federal Care Compare website (formerly called Hospital Compare) contains data on a wide range of quality and safety measures.

  • In data related to seven "timely and effective care" categories — including sepsis care, cataract surgery, colonoscopy, emergency department care, vaccination of health care personnel, safe use of opioids, and use of medical imaging  — that appeared on the website as of October 2024, UC Davis matched or exceeded both state and national hospitals in four of 11 measures. This included measures related to colonoscopy followup, back pain imaging, cardiac imaging and abdominal imaging. The hospital exceeded the state score for flu vaccination of health care personnel, and tied the federal score for inpatient opioid prescribing. In two other measures, results were not available, for reasons such as the hospital having too few patients or cases to report.
  • In 15 measures related to complications and deaths, the hospital was no different than the national rate or better than the national rate in 13 measures. 
  • There are also scores related to unplanned hospital visits – when patients return to the hospital for unplanned care, soon after visiting the hospital or having an outpatient procedure. UC Davis Medical Center scores were no different than the national rate or no different than expected on 11 of 11 measures, with three other measures not applicable. 
  • The overall star rating was four out of five stars. That rating is based on how well a hospital performs across different areas of quality, such as treating heart attacks and pneumonia, readmission rates, and safety of care.
  • The Care Compare website also contains data on a wide range of additional quality and safety measures, such as such as maternal health, health equity, and payment & value of care.

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems initiative or HCAHPS measures how patients feel about hospital care.

  • In results from the Care Compare website as of October 2024, the medical center matched or exceeded both state and federal averages in three of 10 categories: whether patients were given info about what to do during their recovery at home; whether patients strongly agreed that they understood their care when they left the hospital; and whether they would recommend the hospital to others. 74 percent of surveyed UC Davis patients said they would definitely recommend the hospital; the national average was 70%.
  • UC Davis Medical Center matched or exceeded state averages in four more categories: whether nurses always communicated well; whether doctors always communicated well; whether staff always explained about medicines before giving them; and whether patients gave their hospital a rating of 9 or 10 on a scale of 0 (lowest) to 10 (highest).
  • The patient summary star rating was three out of five stars.

UC Davis Medical Center also participates in Cal Hospital Compare. This is a statewide rating system launched by the California Healthcare Foundation and managed by a multi-stakeholder nonprofit group called Cal Hospital Compare. This website typically includes some measures from the federal Care Compare website, plus other measures.

  • In data on the website as of November 2024, the medical center achieved ratings of average or better in approximately 44 of 52 ratings measures compared to state averages. In four other areas, the hospital was not rated.
  • The site also includes case volume ratings for some types of procedures as well.
  • 74% of surveyed patients reported they would definitely recommend the hospital; the California average was 66%.