Medication Safety Technologies:
What Is and Is Not Working

By David W. Bates, MD, MSc; Robert M. Wachter, MD; and Tim Vanderveen, PharmD, MS

Almost ten years ago, the Institute of Medicine report, To Err Is Human (2000), galvanized healthcare, patients, Congress, and the media to pay attention to the problems of patient and medication safety. In the years that followed, hospitals made enormous investments to improve practice and implement safety technologies. How far have we come? Where are we now? Is there any way to anticipate what happens next?

Biomedical Device Integration:
The Impact on Clinicians at the Point of Care

By Brian McAlpine

Hospitals are constantly evaluating new technologies that promise to improve the quality of care, create a safer care environment, and improve both clinical and operational efficiency. If, however, technologies are evaluated solely on their individual merits, they may introduce problems to the clinician’s complex work environment. When new technologies are deployed, there is often some impact to the clinical workflow.

Tests of Change:
Simulated Design of Experiments in Healthcare Delivery

By Brian A. Stockhoff, PhD 

Hospital administrators and quality department personnel seeking to improve hospital processes often find it difficult to implement change. This is true especially when recommended changes potentially are highly disruptive, directly affect patient quality of care, or must be tested in a trial-and-error approach. The risk aversion that arises from past failed attempts and lack of confidence in the success of proposed changes exacts a significant toll on continuous improvement efforts.

EHR Supports Healthier Patients
and a Healthier Bottom Line

By Leslie Chapman, MBA

Graybill Medical Group boasts 130,000 patient visits per year and annual revenues of more than $22 million. But in the tightly regulated and highly competitive Southern California market, the practice, which serves patients from three site locations in Escondido, Fallbrook, and San Marcos, is always looking for ways to enhance outcomes, increase patient safety and satisfaction, and reduce expenses.