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Quality & Patient Safety 

Our Commitment to Quality Care and Patient Safety

Valley Children’s provides nationally recognized care to the 1.3 million children in the Central Valley. In the past, rankings for children’s hospitals have relied largely on reputation and academic contributions to calculate rankings. But as data related to clinical quality and patient safety is more readily available, it has become increasingly important in assessing the quality of care our kids receive. For this reason, Valley Children’s works hard to bring these results to you.

What is “patient safety”? Patient safety depends on creating systems that anticipate and prevent errors before they cause harm. We advocate for patient safety each and every day. By involving everyone at Valley Children's – patients, families, doctors, nurses, support staff, visitors and volunteers – we deliver safe patient care with measurable results.

From Our Team

David Christensen, MD Senior VP, Chief Physician Executive, President of Valley Children's Medical Group
“Our children deserve nothing less than the best. And that’s the promise we make to them every single day.”

Dr. David Chirstensen
Valley Children’s Senior Vice President,
Chief Physician Executive President,
Valley Children’s Medical Group

“By involving everyone at Valley Children’s – patients, families, doctors, nurses, support staff, visitors and volunteers – we are able to deliver quality care with measurable results.”

Raed Khoury
Valley Children’s Vice President of Quality, Patient Safety, Research and Clinical Value
Learn More about Our Quality Champions

Raed Khoury, VP, Quality, Patient Safety, Clinical Value and Physician Operations

Our Culture: Bringing Our Best in Everything We Do

To support our safety culture, we've established safety behavior expectations for clinical and non-clinical staff. These expectations call on everyone to make a personal commitment to safety, be accountable for clear and complete communication and support a questioning attitude.

Additionally, we have implemented the following organizational efforts to support our culture of safety and our goal of zero preventable harm – because zero harm is better when it comes to quality and patient safety.

  • Each day, staff gathers for a safety "huddle" to survey the day's schedule, plan ahead and be proactive about patient safety considerations.
  • A unit-based safety coach program encourages staff to be "Safety Superheroes" and positively reinforce safety behaviors they observe, while identifying opportunities where safety behaviors could be used more effectively.
  • Members of Valley Children's executive leadership regularly visit all areas throughout our hospital to meet with frontline staff and discuss processes that are working well and opportunities for improvement.

Leaders in Pediatric Care

Valley Children’s Hospital has been named a Top Children’s Hospital by The Leapfrog Group for the fifth time, highlighting its nationally recognized achievements in patient safety and quality. This prestigious recognition places Valley Children’s among an elite group of only eight children’s hospitals nationwide to receive this honor.