The Correct Use of Physical Restraints in the Inpatient Setting
Most healthcare providers do not overuse patient restraints maliciously, but systematic overuse can have disastrous results—both for the patients and the institution.
New CMS Ligature Risk Guidance Refers to TJC Recommendations
For now, assess your hospital’s environmental compliance against The Joint Commission’s recommendations, regardless of what organization you might use for accreditation, and be prepared to provide one-to-one observation of at-risk patients if you cannot provide a ligature-resistant environment, says one safety consultant.
FDA: Only You Can Prevent Surgery Fires
The alert is targeted at healthcare professionals involved in surgical procedures—such as surgeons, surgical technicians, anesthesiologists, anesthesiologist assistants, certified registered nurse anesthetists, physician assistants, and nurses—and staff responsible for patient safety and risk management.
Agitated Patients Face Wide-Ranging Risks in Emergency Departments
The researchers, who published their study this month in Annals of Emergency Medicine, screened 43,838 ER patients and found 1,146 (2.6%) were in an agitated state.
Q&A: Adventist Health Attempts to Transform Patient Safety With Organizationwide Changes
Dr. Hoda Asmar is senior vice president and chief clinical officer for Roseville, California–based Adventist Health, a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 75 communities in California, Hawaii, and Oregon.
Digging Into the Patient Safety Risks From Hospital Mergers
The study’s authors found that after system expansions, healthcare institutions may experience significant changes in patient populations, including increases in general volume and in patients with demographic characteristics or conditions that a given facility might not have previously served.
Why the 2018 FGI Guidelines Account for ‘Patients of Size’ and How Your Facility Can, Too
The Guidelines now focus on safe handling for “patients of size,” a switch in terminology away from bariatrics that’s meant to account for not only a patient’s weight, but also height and distribution of weight throughout the body.
IHI Report Calls for Improved Home Care Safety
The report was produced by a panel of subject matter experts convened by IHI and funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. It notes that the increase of care provided in the home requires healthcare organizations to be cognizant of the many risks of harm in that setting.
Workplace Culture Could Drive Physician Burnout, Medical Errors
One study by researchers at the NYU School of Medicine found that physicians who work in small, independent primary care practices with five or fewer physicians report dramatically lower levels of burnout than the national average.
How ‘Smarter’ Smartphones Help Hospitals Safeguard Patients
Both patient safety and quality care depend on providing accurate, meaningful information to the right person at the right time. Today, smartphone platforms and apps not only facilitate timely handoffs—a cornerstone of patient safety—but also integrate with hospital system software to provide clinicians with data from EHRs, biomedical devices, and hospital pharmacies and laboratories.