American College of Surgeons

Accounting for Patient Risks: A Prerequisite to Quality Improvement

By Clifford Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS

Taking into account the health risks posed by the condition of each individual patient is not just critical to improving quality—it is a prerequisite. To fairly measure a hospital’s performance, any assessment must consider the health risks posed by the condition of each individual patient, as well as the hospital’s case mix, given that some hospitals may take on more complex surgical cases than others.

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.

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.

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.

Health IT & Quality

Super-organism Focused Care

By Barry P. Chaiken, MD, FHIMSS

About 10 trillion cells make up the human body. The joining of eggs and sperm at the time of fertilization brings together 23,000 genes. In a healthy gut alone, more than 100 trillion bacteria thrive. Scientists estimate that the microbiome—the term used to describe all the bacteria and other organisms that live on and within us—collectively represent more than three million genes.

Selecting the right vendor is like dating: once you find “the one,” you want to make it a long-term partnership. And much like in dating, if you choose a vendor whose vision and behavior does not align with yours, you both can feel stuck in an unhappy relationship.

Radiology

The Case for Standards-Based Performance Assessment

By Teri Yates, CHC

Diagnostic radiology is a vital component of the healthcare system and is utilized in the diagnosis and management of nearly every hospital patient. Radiology services cost $175 billion annually in the United States, representing 7.5% of total healthcare expenditures. Given the size of the annual spend, there can be little argument that aggressive utilization management is warranted to control front-end costs; however, evaluating the quality of service is equally important since radiology errors can lead to significant downstream costs.

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.

Editor’s Notebook

Are We There Yet?

By Susan Carr

This article has been moved to the following URL: http://psqh.com/blog/editors-notebook-are-we-there-yet73

Hand Hygiene

Compliance Improvement through Technology

By Tom Inglesby

According to The World Health Organization (WHO; 2010), at least 7 of every 100 hospitalized patients in developed countries—and 10 out of 100 in developing countries—will experience a hospital-acquired infection (HAI). To reduce the risk, WHO recommends specific hand hygiene methods involving soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitizer.