Five hospitals in New Jersey have earned straight A’s as New Jersey’s safest hospitals since a national health care quality group began evaluating the safety records of more than 2,500 hospitals in 2012. Using public data and patient surveys, the report examines the incidence of preventable errors and dangerous outcomes, including blood clots, infections, bed sores falls.

New Jersey’s safest hospitals top scorers share some characteristics. All five hospitals belong to a larger system or chain. All of them are located in north Jersey, with two in Bergen County and one each in Hudson, Essex and Morris counties. They all focus on patient communication, and have robust hiring practices for nurses and administrative staff.

Each also has personnel dedicated to particular aspects of patient care. Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, for example, employs two advanced practice nurses who are recognized experts in preventing bed sores, also known as pressure ulcers. St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston relies on “intensivists” — highly trained doctors to oversee and coordinate the treatment provided by an array of specialists and manage the treatment of patients in the intensive care unit.

The New Jersey safest hospitals that received straight A’s every time are:

Englewood Hospital and Medical Center;

Hackensack University Medical Center;

Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston;

Jersey City Medical Center;

Saint Clare’s Hospital in Denville.

Nationwide, 153 of the 2,571 hospitals graded by Leapfrog have earned straight A’s since the surveys began four years ago.

For a complete list of the safest hospitals and the Leapfrog grades, take a look at The Leapfrog Group.