May-June 2011

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May/June 2011

Employment Opportunities

• Palos Community Hospital / Director of Quality / Palos Heights, IL / Posted: 5-10-12

• The Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality / Project Administrator / Baltimore, MD / Posted: 5-4-12

• The Johns Hopkins Hospital / Director, Quality Improvement / Baltimore, MD / Posted: 4-29-12

Magazine

March/April 2012

Features

• Smart Pump Workarounds: What's the Legal Risk?

• Applying Lessons Learned to Accelerated Adoption of BCMA

• Q & A with Diane Pinakiewicz: ‘Patient Safety Is Everyone’s Work’

• Noah’s Story: Please Listen

• We Can All Define Patient Safety… or Can We?

Columns

• Editor's Notebook: A New Look, Nickname, and Expanded Content

• AHRQ: Evidence-Based Methods and Tools Help Reduce Risk of Falls in Hospitals

• Health IT & Quality: Sensory Overload?

• Meaningful Use: The Next Stage for BCMA

• Human Factors: Design Principles for Manual Safety Systems

• ISMP: Building Patient Safety Skills: Common Pitfalls in Root Cause Analysis

Sponsors

May-June 2011

Hand Hygiene Measurement and Education

Compliance improvement can be successful, sustained, and cost effective.

By John Govednik, MS, and Maryanne McGuckin, ScEd, MT(ASCP)

Hand hygiene (HH) is one of the most effective practices that all individuals in a healthcare facility who deliver healthcare services and have direct contact with the patient (healthcare worker, or HCW) can perform to help prevent the spread of infection among patients.

Central Line Infections: Targeting Zero on an Oncology Unit

By Dawn Garcia, BSN/MS, CMQ-O/E

A physician commented that he was concerned about central line care for his patients. While this is a common concern in many organizations, it was not acceptable in one that aspired to achieve performance at best practice levels.

Revisiting the Perinatal Adverse Outcome Index

By Emily Hamilton, MD; Samuel Smith, MD; Dorothy Berry, RN, DFASHRM; Omer Ben-Yoseph, MD; Dan O’Keeffe, MD; Eric Knox, MD

The challenge of sorting through copious amounts of data to find the essential information is not new. Over the years, various professions have developed key markers to highlight the essential. For example, clinicians use vital signs, accountants have bottom lines, and journalists pen pithy headlines.

Understanding Care Transitions as a Patient Safety Issue

By Sara Butterfield RN, BSN, CPHQ, CCM; Christine Stegel, RN, MS, CPHQ; Shelly Glock, LNHA, MBA; and Dennis Tartaglia, MA

The global re-hospitalization rate of a community reflects the cumulative quality of care provided across diverse healthcare settings and providers.

Quest 2011

A Rallying Point for Patient Safety Advocates, a Commitment to Reshape Culture

By Christine Winters

On March 24, there was an aura of optimism and a sense of empowerment building among a passionate group of doctors, nurses, and hospital administrators who had convened at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore for Quest 2011, sponsored by Standard Register. They had come to this event because they were committed to patient safety.

The State of Compassionate Healthcare

Experts discuss survey at symposium hosted by The Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare.

By Julie Rosen

How do patients and physicians view the issue of compassionate healthcare? Is there a gap between the compassionate care that patients say should be provided and what they experience in their own lives? Can good communication and emotional support—the key elements of compassionate healthcare—have an impact on whether a patient lives or dies?

Editor's Notebook

On Being Wrong (and Human)

By Susan Carr

I’ve developed a soft spot for error—not for the stubbornness and denial that too often accompany error, nor of course for the harm that can result from it. I’ve been charmed recently by people who are comfortable admitting error and who accept that being wrong is part of being human.

ISMP

Measuring Up to Medication Safety

By the Institute for Safe Medication Practices

Medications are among the most common interventions used to improve health. So it should come as no surprise that adverse drug events—injuries caused by the use of medications—are a substantial source of preventable harm to hospitalized patients. Measuring the level of safety is fundamental to improvement.

Viewpoint

A Supplier’s Pledge

By Brad Cates

As I kicked off the 2011 Quest Patient Safety Summit, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. We had assembled a group of 50 patient safety advocates and thought leaders from around the country for a day of dialog and collaboration.

Infection Control Showcase

Battling the Bugs

By Tom Inglesby

Over seven months in 2010 there were more than 350 cases of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP), according to a study by the Los Angeles County Department of Health.

Corporate Compliance

Federal Initiatives to Drive Quality of Care: What Patient Safety Officers Need to Know

By Renee H. Martin, JD, RN, MSN; Katherine Autieri, JD

Under the recently enacted Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), every healthcare provider participating in Medicare or Medicaid must now have a corporate compliance program in place. Medicare is seeking transparency, quality, and accountability from healthcare providers.

Health & IT Quality

Watson, come here. I need you!

By Barry P. Chaiken, MD, FHIMSS

Although a call for Watson brings to mind Alexander Graham Bell’s first words on the telephone or Sherlock Holmes’s greeting to his physician companion, The New York Times heralded another Watson on its February 17, 2011, front page.

Medication Safety

The “Other” Healthcare Reform Movement

By Susan Stinson, RN, FACHE

While most mainstream media coverage in recent months has framed discussions of healthcare reform around issues of access and cost management, there is an equally critical type of healthcare reform evolving within hospitals that impacts nearly every patient—improving medication safety.


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