Nurse-to-Physician Communications: Connecting for Safety

By Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH; and Leigh Ann Myers, RN, MSN

Ms. Jones, a 52-year old real estate agent, pulls into the hospital parking garage and after some delay, finds a free space. She hurries to the elevator, knowing that her 85-year old father, Mr. Kelley, is eager to get home after his three-day hospitalization for an exacerbation of chronic heart failure.

ECRI Institute PSO Deep Dive™ Analyzes Medication Events

By Charlotte Huber, RN, MSN; Barbara Rebold, RN, MS; Cynthia Wallace; and Karen P. Zimmer, MD, MPH

With this issue, Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH) reaches its fifth anniversary, which prompts me to take a moment and think about how much the world has changed and stayed the same in the past five years. When we published the first issue, in July 2004, the patient safety community was discussing how much progress—if any—had been made since the IOM published To Err Is Human five years earlier, and now we are assessing progress made over the past 10 years.

DNV Accreditation Leads to Improving Informed Consent

By Emily Turnure, RN, MSN, NEA-BC

South Jersey Healthcare (SJH) is an integrated health system that performs a high volume of surgeries each year in its two hospitals, emergency, and outpatient services departments. That volume of procedures requires a diligent patient informed consent process to ensure patient safety, patient satisfaction, and the highest quality of care.

EMPSF 2nd Annual Patient Safety Summit

By Dianne Vass

On March 22 and 23, 2012, the Emergency Medicine Patient Safety Foundation (EMPSF) held its 2nd Annual Patient Safety Summit: From Insights to Outcomes: Getting Results! The meeting brought together key stakeholders and thought leaders from across the emergency care continuum. Among the distinguished panel of speakers were the presidents of the American College of Emergency Physicians, Emergency Nurses Association, National Patient Safety Foundation, and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management.

Pharmaceutical Waste: Is Your Facility at Risk?

By Fred Massoomi, PharmD, FASHP

Every year United States hospitals and nursing homes generate more than 84,000 tons of hazardous pharmaceutical waste (Sumpter, 2005). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires businesses, including healthcare facilities, to safely manage their hazardous wastes from the moment they are generated to when they are appropriately disposed (RCRA, 1976). States and municipalities also can regulate hazardous waste disposal.