Clinical alarms designed to alert nurses to changes in their patients’ conditions have become a continual barrage of noise that poses a significant threat to patient safety, according to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). A new AACN Practice Alert outlines evidence-based protocols to reduce false or non-actionable alarms and improve the effective use of these monitoring aids.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has announced an agreement with the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to form a partnership to fund a major intervention study aimed at preventing injuries from falls in older adults.

By Libby Hoy and Mia Arias

Imagine a setting where patients and families feel confident and comfortable asking questions, providing valuable historical information, and discussing their health priorities in open dialogue with their providers. How many adverse medical events could be avoided? How many duplicated tests could be eliminated?

LiveData, Inc. has announced that the company’s OR-Dashboard has been installed into a new integrated OR system at the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare Facility in Miami, providing the cornerstone for advances in both workflow efficiency and patient safety. KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc., led the technology installation, which includes the KARL STORZ OR1® integration platform, and LiveData OR-Dashboard with Active Time Out.

Ochsner Medical Center –Baton Rouge recently expanded its use of capnography to monitor patients using pain medication through patient controlled analgesia (PCA) to strengthen patient safety measures. Capnography evaluates how effectively patients are breathing by measuring exhaled carbon dioxide, alerting medical caregivers when life-threatening respiratory depression occurs.

In the last issue of PSQH, I wrote about different takes on the concept of numerators and denominators. Kerry O’Connell leaves the comfortable world of uneventful patients (denominators) when he experiences preventable harm and joins the numerators. National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, on the other hand, thinks of denominators as patients whose individual characteristics—including chronic and underlying conditions in need of treatment—may be invisible until brought to light through electronic records and analytics.

The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) has announced the winners of the 2013 Stand Up For Patient Safety Management Award. The award for a hospital-based project will go to JPS Health Network of Fort Worth, Texas. The award for ambulatory care will be given to the 97th Medical Group, Altus AFB, in Altus, Oklahoma.