Preventing Wrong-Site Surgery in Minnesota: A 5-Year Journey

Preventing Wrong-Site Surgery in Minnesota: A 5-Year Journey

While rare, surgeries and invasive procedures on the wrong body part (wrong-site procedures) are proving to be one of the most intractable patient safety issues. Despite years of effort at the state, national, and individual facility levels, these preventable events continue to occur.

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Radiology – Peer Review: Why Current Models Undermine Safety Culture

The field of radiology is known for its rapid innovations in technology. We continually offer up exciting new ways to image the body, but when it comes to improving the accuracy of professional interpretations, little meaningful progress has been made in the last 50 years. This is true in part because current radiology peer review models are insufficient, and in some circumstances, even harmful to quality improvement efforts.

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Sterile Compounding Tragedy: Symptom of a Broken System

ISMP

Sterile Compounding Tragedy: Symptom of a Broken System

In the wake of the current multistate meningitis outbreak (www.cdc.gov/HAI/outbreaks/meningitis.html), ISMP wishes to express its deepest sympathy to all affected by the contamination of compounded products from a New England compounding pharmacy. This is certainly a tragedy of monumental proportions.

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Key Characteristics of Successful Leaders

Lean Transformation

Key Characteristics of Successful Leaders

Replacing senior leaders in an organization is never easy. With a board of directors and other top executives having invested a lot of time and money in supporting the former leader, now they face the difficult task of replacing that knowledge and experience with a leader who will help advance the organization into the future. Finding effective leaders is different today than it might have been in the past, but there are certain, proven criteria organizations should consider using to find the right people.

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The ‘Big Universe’ of Diagnostic Error

Editor’s Notebook

The ‘Big Universe’ of Diagnostic Error

Patient safety advocates look forward to the day when principles they currently pursue as part of a directed agenda infuse the practice of medicine extensively, resulting in less need for advocacy, remedial training, and re-engineering because patient safety is baked into the culture of medicine.

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News: AHRQ Patient Safety Project Reduces Bloodstream Infections by 40 Percent

News

AHRQ Patient Safety Project Reduces Bloodstream Infections by 40 Percent

A unique nationwide patient safety project funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) reduced the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) in intensive care units by 40 percent, according to the agency’s preliminary findings of the largest national effort to combat CLABSIs to date.

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News: Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America

News

Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America

America’s healthcare system has become too complex and costly to continue business as usual, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. Inefficiencies, an overwhelming amount of data, and other economic and quality barriers hinder progress in improving health and threaten the nation’s economic stability and global competitiveness, the report says.

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EMPSF 2nd Annual Patient Safety Summit

EMPSF 2nd Annual Patient Safety Summit

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.

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