New comprehensive guidelines for the pre-operative care of the nation’s elderly patients have been issued by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Geriatrics Society (AGS). The joint guidelines—published in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons—apply to every patient who is 65 years and older as defined by Medicare regulations.

“Improving America’s Hospitals: The Joint Commission Annual Report on Quality and Safety 2012,” includes 620 hospitals that are leading the way nationally in using evidence-based care processes closely linked to positive patient outcomes. The hospitals identified as attaining and sustaining excellence in accountability performance in 2011 represent approximately 18 percent of Joint Commission-accredited hospitals reporting core measure performance data.

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products and recognized innovator in patient monitoring and respiratory care solutions, has been granted 510(k) clearance to market the Covidien Nellcor Bedside SpO₂Patient Monitoring System by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Although hospital patients may need the strong pain relief that only opioids can provide, a Sentinel Event Alert issued on August 8 by The Joint Commission urges hospitals to take specific steps to prevent serious complications or even deaths from opioid use.

By Tim Gee

On July 11, 2012, President Obama signed into law the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. Applauded by big pharma, the American Medical Association, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, and others, this new legislation reauthorizes various user fees, and revises regulations in an effort to address problems around drug shortages, the paucity of therapies for rare diseases, and improving availability of pediatric drugs and devices.

In response to requirements in legislation that passed Congress with broad bipartisan support, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has proposed that most medical devices distributed in the United States carry a unique device identifier, or UDI.

Sealed Air Corporation has announced its participation in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Private Organizations for Patient Safety (POPS) platform. As part of this major initiative, Sealed Air will bring the expertise of its Diversey brand portfolio together with leading healthcare professionals to promote best practices in hand hygiene for healthier patient care environments.

The Case Management Society of America (CMSA), the American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians, Inc. (ABQAURP) and several co-sponsors are pleased to announce the release of the third bi-annual Health Information Technology (IT) Survey.

Transitions of Care is defined as the movement of patients from one practice setting to another. Transitions happen when moving from one care provider to another, changing the health care setting, or even moving to another level of care within the same setting. During these transitions, poor coordination between providers, patients, and caregivers can lead to medical errors, bad outcomes, and even life-threatening situations.

Medication mishaps are the most common errors in healthcare. Indeed, medication errors represent the most frequently reported events submitted to ECRI Institute Patient Safety Organization (PSO)—comprising about 30% of all events.