Daedong Hospital, Consecutive 2nd Time Grade 1 in Pneumonia Adequacy Evaluation

Daedong Hospital received a first-grade rating for the second consecutive time in the "5th Pneumonia Adequacy Assessment" announced by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) on the 12th.

Pneumonia is a disease in which inflammation occurs in the bronchi and alveoli of the lungs due to pathogens (bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc.) inhaled through the nose and mouth. Although it is a common illness, symptoms such as cough, sputum, chills, and fever are often mistaken for a cold, and missing the treatment window can lead to death.

According to disease statistics from 2019, pneumonia ranked third as a cause of death in South Korea, following cancer and heart disease, and its mortality rate continues to increase.

HIRA has been conducting pneumonia adequacy assessments since 2014 to manage the increasing number of pneumonia patients and pneumonia-related mortality rates each year and to provide high-quality medical services to patients.

From October 2021 to March 2022, HIRA evaluated 15,075 cases of patients aged 18 and older who were hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia at hospital-level or higher medical institutions with 10 or more admissions and who received intravenous antibiotics for three or more days. Cases suspected or confirmed for COVID-19, non-community-acquired pneumonia, and those with comorbidities were excluded from the evaluation.

Daedong Hospital.

This evaluation targeted a total of 420 institutions nationwide, including 44 tertiary general hospitals, 251 general hospitals, and 125 hospitals. Among the evaluated institutions, 249 received a first-grade rating, 56 second-grade, 44 third-grade, and 71 were rated fourth grade or below.

The evaluation indicators included six items: ▲oxygen saturation test implementation rate ▲severity assessment tool usage rate ▲sputum smear test prescription rate ▲sputum culture test prescription rate ▲blood culture test implementation rate before the first antibiotic administration ▲antibiotic administration rate within 8 hours of hospital arrival.

Along with these six indicators, seven monitoring indicators such as readmission rates were also evaluated, resulting in a total of 13 indicators used to calculate the scores.

Dr. Sim Eun-hee, head of the Respiratory Center at Daedong Hospital, said, “Although the number of evaluation targets and medical cases significantly decreased over the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the severity increased. Despite these circumstances, the entire team’s efforts to improve the quality of medical care for pneumonia and respiratory diseases allowed us to maintain a first-grade rating for the second consecutive time.”

She added, “Based on the experience gained over the past three years in enhancing infectious disease response capabilities, we will do our best to establish an integrated medical system with the Respiratory Specialized Center, COVID-19 outpatient clinic, regional emergency medical center, and infectious disease ward to provide systematic health management for local respiratory disease patients.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.