Daily Lobo new mexico
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
wednesday November 12, 2014 | Vo l u m e 1 1 9 | Is s u e 6 1
UNMH receives a D in safety score rating By Marielle Dent UNM Hospital received a D in safety from an industry watchdog group, but a spokesman for the hospital said the numbers are not what they seem. The D rating came from the Fall 2014 update to the Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Safety Score website, which assigns a standard letter grade to hospitals based on their ability to prevent medical errors. But UNMH spokesman John Arnold said the hospital doesn’t accept the assessment. “We chose not to participate in this survey and so we do not think that the D grade is an accurate score for UNMH. We do not think it reflects our commitment to safety at the hospital,” Arnold said.
Leapfrog, a nonprofit industry watchdog, scores more than 2,500 hospitals twice annually by compiling 28 measures of safety data from the Leapfrog Hospital Survey, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the American Hospital Association’s Annual Survey and Health Information Technology Supplement, according to the hospital safety score website. These performance measures are analyzed and weighted by the Leapfrog Blue Ribbon Expert Panel based on evidence, opportunity for improvement and impact, according to the website. This panel is made up of six patient safety experts from around the country.
Arnold said that since UNMH did not volunteer their own information to Leapfrog, the data had to be gathered from outside sources, making the conclusions invalid. He said that in at least one measure he was aware of, the third-party data Leapfrog used was inaccurate. “In this survey, 10 of these (safety measures) would only be accurately determined with information obtained in the survey had we participated,” Arnold said. “Other measures came from some public federal data which was several years old going back as far as 2010, so that could negatively affect the grade.” The Hospital Safety Score categorizes each measure as either a process/structural measure or an
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File photo
UNM Hospital received a D in safety based on the Fall 2014 update to Leapfrog Group’s Hospital Safety Score website, which assigns a standard letter grade to hospitals based on their ability to prevent medical errors.
Flamenco dancers light up the stage
Diana Cervantes / Daily Lobo / @dee_sea_
Principal dancer Marisol Encinias performs her solo for the event Yjastros: Vivimos! on Friday night at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Yjastros: Vivimos! is the first full theater performance of Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company since a fire devastated their flamenco studio last December.
Event showcases local researcher’s various projects By Tomas Lujan
The College of Education is set to host the fourth annual IFCE Research Showcase, an event bringing together a diverse group of UNM researchers to present their work in the spirit of collaboration. More than 45 different research projects will be on display demonstrating the efforts of some of the brightest students and faculty at the UNM COE in an event
that is free and open to the public. Jay Parkes, IFCE chair, said the department hosts the showcase for two reasons – to raise the visibility of research being conducted in the department and to foster research collaborations of department scholars with others outside the department. Parkes said one of the most interesting aspects of the event is the diversity of the research, which covers issues throughout the human lifespan like nutrition as well as community
and social issues like treating people with PTSD or issues involving the LGBTQ community. “The programs focus around wellness and well-being often with a focus on education,” Parkes said. “It makes a great one-stop shop for somebody who is interested in the research we’re doing or for someone looking for research partners.” Martin Jones, assistant professor of educational psychology, said he is participating in the event to present
his research, which looked into the social influence of friends in motivating individuals to succeed. “One of the things I’ve been working on with my colleagues is why kids go to school,” Jones said. “What we’ve found is that about half of students think of school as a place to learn, and the other half think of it as a place to hang out with friends.” All too often research focuses on the negative elements of social influences like bullying, he said. His re-
search, however, has shown that positive relationships can be extremely beneficial to the educational success of an individual, and through collaboration hopes to figure out a way to boost these positive influences in a student’s life. “I’m hoping that this research showcase provides a forum for teachers and school administrators to learn more about what UNM is doing and
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