Are Second Victims Getting the Help They Need?
A 2013 review of healthcare professionals as second victims, published in Evaluation & The Health Professions, concluded that nearly half of healthcare providers would fit this label at least once in their career. A 2017 survey of surgeons found that 80% recalled having at least one intraoperative adverse event within the past year of their practice. Those affected reported having experienced a substantial emotional impact on their well-being, including strong feelings of sadness, anxiety, and shame.
Use Checklist to Reduce Self-Harm Risks in the ER
With the renewed focus on ligature and self-harm, facilities need to undergo a complete reassessment of the physical environment where patients with behavioral or mental health problems are cared for.
Annual Industry Survey: The Challenges of Data Analytics
Judging by the responses to the 2018 Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare Industry Outlook Survey, organizations are still working on mastering the use of data. Asked how they would rate their use of data analytics to improve patient safety and change behavior, only 23% of respondents said they were highly effective.
Infusion Pump Performance: Flow Accuracy and Continuity Often Don’t Add Up
Pumps undergo extensive pre-market testing, and vendor manuals provide detailed documentation of the results. However, pump performance in the real world often differs significantly from lab results, with a potentially significant impact on patient safety.
Case Study: Harborview Medical Center’s Automated Sepsis Alert System
After a patient is admitted to Harborview, his or her vitals are plugged into the EHR several times each day. The system searches for patterns, trends, and symptoms that might indicate sepsis. If found, a red box appears around the patient’s name and the nurse is assigned a task in the EHR to screen the patient for infection.
Memorial Healthcare Rolls Out New Protocol to Eliminate Wrong-Site Nerve Blocks
A 2015 article in Current Opinion in Anesthesiology puts its best guess of the frequency of wrong-site blocks as 7.5 per 10,000 procedures. A 2018 review of publications reporting on at least 10,000 blocks found a rate of 0.52 to 5.07 wrong-site nerve blocks per 10,000 blocks, unilateral blocks, or “at-risk” procedures.
Expect More Scrutiny on Hand Hygiene
Now, if a Joint Commission surveyor sees anyone who directly cares for patients fail to perform required hand hygiene, the healthcare organization (HCO) will get a Requirement for Improvement. The Joint Commission justified the change by saying HCOs have had more than enough time to train personnel on how to maintain hand hygiene.
How DeKalb Medical Fixed Drug Safety Problems After Fatal Error
Pharmacists may mistakenly override a medication safety alert because they are inundated with false alarms, DeKalb’s pharmacy director told inspectors after the fatal incident, according to an inspection report CMS released to HealthLeaders Media in response to a public records request.
Q&A: Antibiotic Stewardship
The following is an edited Q&A from the HCPro webcast “How to Establish an Antimicrobial Stewardship Program.” Speaker Jennifer Pisano, MD, is medical director of the antimicrobial stewardship program at the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences.
Analytics: Act Like an EIS Officer
The key to making analytics valuable to an organization requires managers to apply surveillance techniques, first proven effective by Epidemic Intelligence Service officers 60 years ago, to their reports.