New Tool Simplifies the Process of Patient Safety Improvement
A new tool offers a straightforward approach to improvement A new tool endorsed by the National Patient Safety Foundation aims to streamline patient safety and quality improvement efforts using a simple, evidence-based model. “The Healthcare Adventures Graphic Gameplan for Patient Safety,” released in October 2015, offers a standardized approach both leaders and clinicians can use … Continued
Study: Poor Communication Leads to Malpractice, Death
Poor communication in healthcare has tangible, measurable effects. A new study released by CRICO Strategies found that communications failures were a factor in 30% of malpractice cases between 2009 to 2013, including 1,744 deaths. The reports estimate that both the deaths and $1.7 billion in malpractice costs could have been avoided with better communication between patients and physicians.
JAMA: Nurses Key to Surviving Surgery
A study released in The Journal of the American Medical Association has found that surgical patients in hospitals with better nursing environments receive better care without drastically increasing costs. Researchers found the rate of 30-day mortality rates for postoperative patients was 4.8% at hospitals with more than 1.5 nurses per bed (NPB), while facilities with … Continued
Nominations Open for Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement
EngagingPatients.org, an online community dedicated to sharing best practices in patient and family engagement, is now accepting nominations for the 2016 John Q. Sherman Award for Excellence in Patient Engagement. Established in 2014, the Sherman Award is dedicated to recognizing innovative work that has resulted in better, safer care and improved outcomes by engaging patients … Continued
Study: Discharge notes are often written grades above patient reading levels
A study published in The American Journal of Surgery found that low literacy rates can drive up the number of hospital readmissions. Of the 497 patients studied, researchers found that only 24% had the reading skills necessary to understand their discharge instructions, with 65% reading a lower grade level than what their notes were written … Continued
The Hidden Patient Experience
Alexandra Wilson Pecci, for HealthLeaders Media How well-meaning and clinically important actions can make or break the patient experience, and how leaders at Cleveland Clinic and Mount Sinai Health System are refocusing efforts. During her hospital’s monthly executive leadership rounds, Cleveland Clinic’s executive chief nursing officer, K. Kelly Hancock, MSN, RN, NE-BC, met a patient … Continued
Physical Therapy Joins the Movement
By Susan Carr
This year’s annual conference of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Massachusetts chapter (APTAMA) focused on a microcosm of issues in healthcare improvement: value, collaboration, measurement, and spread. After hearing Alan M. Jette, PT, PhD, FAPTA, deliver the keynote address, “System Thinking to Thrive in a Changing Health Care Environment,” I participated on a panel that included Jette in a discussion of the issues he raised.
Leaders in physical therapy are working hard to inspire practicing physical therapists (PT) to pursue improvement efforts within their profession, in healthcare more broadly, and with consumers directly. Leaders such as Jette and Mary Duffy Zupkus, PT, MPA, president of the APTAMA (and—full disclosure—my PT), believe that physical therapy offers unique opportunities to advance healthcare delivery and must reposition itself as a profession in order to survive the new demands of the healthcare marketplace. The enthusiasm and savvy of those who attended the conference, presented on the panel, and asked insightful questions were reminders that important stakeholders continue to join the improvement movement.
Physical Therapy Joins the Movement
By Susan Carr This year’s annual conference of the American Physical Therapy Association’s Massachusetts chapter (APTAMA) focused on a microcosm of issues in healthcare improvement: value, collaboration, measurement, and spread. After hearing Alan M. Jette, PT, PhD, FAPTA, deliver the keynote address, “System Thinking to Thrive in a Changing Health Care Environment,” I participated on … Continued
New Sentinel Event Alert Focuses on Preventing Patient Falls
Preventing patient falls and fall-related injuries is the focus of the Sentinel Event Alert: Issue 55 released by The Joint Commission. The new alert examines the contributing factors to patient falls and includes suggested solutions to be implemented by health care organizations to help reduce patient falls and falls with injury, according to the press … Continued
Team-Based Learning and Student-Run Clinic Support Interdisciplinary Education
By Nazanin Kuseh Kalani Yazd The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus approaches interprofessional education in a manner that mimics the reality of working on an interprofessional team. To prepare students to work in a field that requires coordination across many different disciplines, the University of Colorado takes advantage of the diversity at its health … Continued