The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has created an online resource of information about work-related injuries and illnesses among people who work in hospitals and other healthcare settings. These workers face hazards that range from needlesticks to muscle strains, falls, and communicable diseases as well as violent injury and death caused by angry or deranged patients, family members, or other members of the public. And they are injured on the job more often than workers in any other profession.

Note: Department/Column name goes in Title field followed by “:” and title of article.

Note: Department/Column name goes in Title field followed by “:” and title of article.

When technology seems too big for its britches, or we let it run the show, many of us remind ourselves that “it’s just a tool,” hoping that observation will help us put technology in its place and restore the world’s balance. The bandwidth currently consumed by health information technology (IT), especially electronic health records (EHRs), has increased to such a point today that we all might wish that intoning, “It’s just a tool,” were enough to regain control.

Medication shortages have steadily increased over the past decade due to a number of factors affecting drug supply. Perhaps the first and worst hit has been the hematology/oncology area, which has been dealing with shortages and the need to redesign chemotherapy protocols for a number of years. Within the past three years we have seen an increasing trend of drug shortages that have occurred and continue with no resolution or intermittent supplies returning to the market.

At Myrtue Medical Center (MMC), a 25-bed critical access hospital (CAH) in Harlan, Iowa. the quality improvement team had been contemplating how information technology could help the hospital deliver improved care to its patients. Even though the government’s electronic health records (EHR) incentive program had not yet been unveiled back in 2007, Myrtue’s Quality Improvement Team recognized the value of electronic health records that included advanced functionality such as computerized provider order entry.

Technological advancements often present new hazards even as they solve existing problems; electronic health records (EHRs) are no exception to that rule. CRICO—the medical malpractice insurer for the Harvard medical community and a leading patient safety resource—has expanded its coding system to capture information about incidents related to the use of EHRs. In this article, CRICO shares what it is learning about how to avoid the downside of information technology.

Health Care Providers—Are WE a Quality Conundrum?

Healthcare-Associated Infection Reports

By John Govednik, MS; Maryanne McGuckin, Dr. ScED, FSHEA; Jessica Bunson, MS, MT (ASCP), CIC; David Hyman, MD, JD; and Bernard S. Black, JD

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are one of the top-10 leading causes of death in the United States (Klevens et al., 2007). When in the hospital for treatment, a patient risks being among the 5% who become infected by bacteria or viruses from other patients or from the hospital environment (The World Health Organization, 2009). These bacteria and viruses are spread in various ways, including unwashed hands of personnel or visitors, inadequate sterile techniques, and patient care practices.

Integrating Biomedical Devices Across the Enterprise? Go with the Flow

By Mike Freeman, BSBA

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.