Building a PSO “Field of Dreams” for Emergency Medical Services

For emergency medical service (EMS) providers in the state of Missouri, patient safety organizations are a “field of dreams” — a field of legal protection, learning, collaborating, and most of all, improving pre-hospital care.

Integrated Quality Measures Improve Patient Safety & Care

By Leigh S. Hamby, MD, MHA; Dan Housman; Betsy Parker, PMP

In 2008, the Piedmont Clinic welcomed a new CEO who has led the clinic leadership in its development and adoption of a clinical integration model that blends clinical and financial integration. As part of this process much discussion revolved around the best way to track and use data to create integration.

Addressing Institutional Conflict of Interest to Promote Patient Safety

By Bryan A. Liang, MD, PhD, JD; and Tim Mackey, MAS

Studies show that 67% of academic departments have financial relationships with industry (Campbell, 2007b). The Institute of Medicine has warned that academic institutions lack independent review, with resulting tolerance of conflicts due to financial gains, which may pose serious barriers to addressing the issue (IOM, 2009).

VAP: It's the Little Things that Count

NY hospitals share lessons for preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia through a statewide collaborative.

By Nancy Landor, RN, MS, CPHQ; and Patty Montone Charvat

Making sure that the head of a patient bed is elevated 30% is just one of the important elements for preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in critical care units.

Safety and Savings in Las Vegas: Nurses Have Decision Support at UMC

By Mitch Work, MPA, FHIMSS; and Chuck Appleby

As one of the country's fastest-growing cities in the early 21st century, Las Vegas, Nevada, has had to shoulder all the demographic challenges that distinction entails. Through it all, University Medical Center (UMC) has steadfastly maintained its role as the safety net for the sickest and neediest patients in this metro area of nearly two million people.

The Leapfrog CPOE Evaluation Tool: One Academic Medical Center's Experience

By Andrea L. Long, PharmD; Monica M. Horvath, PhD; Jeanette Jansen, RN, MSN; Jeffrey Ferranti, MD, MS; Heidi Cozart, RPh

A large proportion of medication errors occur at the prescribing phase. Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) offers a possible means by which to avoid these potentially harmful mistakes through implementation of electronic ordering and clinical decision support software (Kuperman, et al., 2007).