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Arroyo Grande leads in hip surgery mortality rates

December 22, 2015

Arroyo Grande Community HospitalArroyo Grande Community Medical Center had the highest rate of mortality in patients who underwent surgery following a hip fracture in California, according to a recently released report by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD).

In 2012 and 2013, 11 out of 94 — or 13.3 percent – of patients who underwent hip surgeries at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital died. At Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles, none of the 82 hip surgery patients  died.

Statewide, nearly 5.4 percent of elderly patients who underwent surgery for hip fractures at California hospitals died within 30 days of admission, according to the OSHPD report. The report included information from 302 hospitals.

“Hip fracture is a serious and costly public health concern with approximately 20,000 hip fractures occurring each year in California,” OSHPD said in its report. “Because of California’s aging population, the burden of hip fracture is likely to grow in coming years.”


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There are factors to consider:


Who did the surgery.


How old is the patient?


What other medical conditions did the patient have? Heart arrhythmias? Previous strokes? High blood pressure? Was this someone like Jack La Lane who was super fit and broke a hip at Zumba class? That stuff matters.


Patients are often put on Lovenox after surgery if they are not already on some other type of blood thinner, which is a subcutaneous injectable blood thinner, at least during the immediate post operative period to prevent those pesky lethal blood clots. Physical therapists and nurses should be working with patients immediately to turn patients, get them up and about to prevent pneumonia, have them breathing in an incentive spirometer.


Dressings aren’t really changed on hip fractures by nursing staff; they come out of surgery with a foam dressing, and it pretty much stays covered until the doctor looks at it and he/she redresses it, which isn’t immediately. Patients are sponge bathed and their bedding is changed, so the risk of the wound itself getting infected from what I have “personally” seen over the years has been quite small. That has been all post operative care.


I CAN tell you AG hospital has a deserved reputation for lackluster care. If you must go there for care, PLEASE scrutinize your bill. ESPECIALLY your ER bills. There are 5 levels of ER care 1 is lowest level, level 5 means you are basically close to death and there should be monitors on you, staff all around you, you should be near the nurse’s station, etc. At least, that is the rate they are billing you at.


I could go on and on about AG hospital. Here is what I will say: In order to have a FAIR opinion, it would be nice to have the number of surgeries done, the average ages, average length of stay. A huge problem is that our local area doesn’t pay very well. It is hard to recruit and maintain qualified staff when you pay low wages, but housing is so expensive you can’t keep people. You get traveling nurses or you get 100 year old nurses, or you get people who just don’t care about their job, or you get a brand new nurse who can’t find a job anywhere else. Aaaannnnd that is who is in charge of YOUR life! Yay!


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it must suck to be an autonomous whore working for people exponentially more intelligent than you are your whole life.


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I wouldn’t know… I am awesome.


I am sorry you project your feelings on to others. That isn’t healthy. ;(


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Acidic American diet. It eats at the bones. Avoid that and eat an alkaline diet then you won’t have your bones dissolve or erode-then end up having to go to such a dangerous place for some horrid surgery. People in the US look at hospitalization as a normal part of life (and illness too). It isn’t. Think about the ocean…the more carbon monoxide it absorbs—the more acidic it gets. The more acidic–and coral starts to die as well as small calcium shells on the lower food chain. Just like our bodies….we get acidic….teeth rot and bones wear away. http://www.betterbones.com/alkalinebalance/why-an-alkaline-diet-makes-sense.aspx


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Oops….carbon dioxide….not monoxide. It’s late….


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