Quality and Safety

Dad and daughter playing in the sunlight.

At Arkansas Children’s, quality and safety are the cornerstones of everything we do. Our unwavering commitment to excellence ensures that every child receives the safest, most effective care possible.

From preventing infections to enhancing surgical outcomes and delivering an exceptional patient experience, we champion children by making them better today and healthier tomorrow.

Below, you’ll find key quality and safety metrics for 2023 that highlight our commitment to delivering exceptional care and improving outcomes for the patients and families we serve.

Hand Hygiene

The foundation of exceptional care begins with the simplest yet most vital practice—hand hygiene. Hand hygiene compliance shows the percentage of time that healthcare workers wash their hands. At Arkansas Children’s, we’re constantly enhancing our hand hygiene practices, striving for 100% compliance to keep our patients safe and healthy.

98%

In 2023, our hand hygiene compliance was 98%.

Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Rates

As a Level 1 Surgery Center, verified by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), surgical care at Arkansas Children’s is built on precision, expertise, and a steadfast focus on patient safety. Surgical site infection rate measures the number of surgical cases per 100 operations where a patient developed an infection following surgery. At Arkansas Children’s, we continue to prioritize the highest standards of safety for every patient who receives surgical care. The SSI rate below is for select neurosurgical, orthopedic and cardiac surgeries at Arkansas Children's Hospital.

1.9

In 2023, our SSI rate was 1.9 for complex surgeries.

Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI)

A central line is a small tube inserted into a large blood vessel used to deliver medications, provide fluids or collect blood samples for testing. At Arkansas Children’s, we recognize that preventing CLABSI infections is essential to safeguarding the health of our patients. These infections can occur when bacteria or other germs enter the bloodstream and can pose serious risks. The CLABSI quality metric measures the number of infections per 1,000-line days. We continue to take proactive measures to reduce CLABSI rates, ensuring our patients receive the safest treatment possible.

0.9

In 2023, our CLABSI rate was 0.9.

Patient Experience

Every child and family who walks through our doors deserves compassionate care and an exceptional experience. We’re focused on enhancing how children and their families feel during every step of their care journey with us. At Arkansas Children’s, we regularly ask for feedback about how we’re doing through patient experience surveys, and we remained focused on making meaningful enhancements to the overall patient experience. Below is the percentage of patient families that rated us a 9 or 10 on our patient experience survey last year (10 is the highest rating).

87.7%