Automated Pre-op Instructions in a Culture of Continuous Improvement
Automated Pre-op Instructions in a Culture of Continuous Improvement
The benefits of providing patients with pre-operative instructions tailored specifically to their unique procedures, health status, and medications are well established. Patient safety perhaps tops this list. Healthcare providers have long recognized that offering clear, easily understandable instructions that cover requirements including fasting, discontinuing anticoagulants or blood pressure regulators, avoiding tobacco and alcohol, and more can enhance patient safety by reducing the chances of potentially life-threatening perioperative complications (Tea, 2010).
The Silent Treatment: Why Safety Tools and Checklists Aren’t Enough
The Silent Treatment: Why Safety Tools and Checklists Aren’t Enough
Poor communication is deadly, especially in critical care settings (Wachter, 2010; The Joint Commission, 2010). When communication breaks down in intensive care units (ICU) and operating rooms, the result is catastrophic harm (Alvarez, 2006; Gandhi, 2005) and even death (Consumers Union, 2009; Institute of Medicine, 2000).
Patient Safety Summit in Emergency Care
Patient Safety Summit in Emergency Care
Emergency care and patient safety thought-leaders from across North America convened in Las Vegas in May 2011 to spend two days together to address the patient safety challenges and opportunities throughout the continuum of emergency care. The event was hosted by the Emergency Medicine Patient Safety Foundation (EMPSF), a national not-for-profit organization based in California whose mission is to improve patient safety in the practice of emergency medicine through education, research, collaboration, and training.
Wander-Risk Patients: Best Practices for Hospitals and Assisted-Living Facilities
Wander-Risk Patients: Best Practices for Hospitals and Assisted-Living Facilities
Older adults and senior citizens with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia are at elevated risk of wandering away from their medical care facility, which poses unique challenges for the hospitals and specialized care facilities that house these patients. Wandering puts them in harm’s way; they could fall, get into an accident, become a crime victim, or suffer from exposure to the elements.
Where Are the ‘Dots’?
Remote Monitoring Showcase
Where Are the ‘Dots’?
A network is comprised of nodes, sometimes called dots, that have to be connected for the system to provide benefits.
When you design a network, you want to connect the nodes or devices—“connect the dots”—to be sure that the units that have to “talk” to one another do so efficiently. If a node drops out, due to loss of power for example, there should be a way to route the data around the blacked-out dot and maintain the network’s throughput. If a node moves out of range, you want to know where it went and why.
Standard Register and Poken Launch Touch-Enabled Products and Services for Healthcare
Sept. 19, 2011—Standard Register and Poken announced today they have joined forces to launch pokenHEALTH™, which Standard Register will market exclusively to healthcare in North America. pokenHEALTH provides interactive, touch-based tools to manage community and professional events. Using Swiss watch-industry microelectronic knowledge, pokenHEALTH runs on a unique, near-field communication-enabled ecosystem of Poken devices, smart phone apps, and tags that allow users to interact with each other and the sponsor.
Brigham and Women’s Teams Up With GNS Healthcare to Fend Off Adverse Events in Heart Patients
September 13, 2011—Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital and its Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, led by David Bates, are announcing a collaboration with GNS Healthcare to use supercomputing technology to improve patient care. Cambridge, MA-based GNS Healthcare’s computer-simulation models will be used to predict the likelihood of adverse drug events and hospital readmission in patients with congestive heart failure.
AED Failures Connected to Deaths from Cardiac Arrest
Aug. 30, 2011—A study published online last week in Annals of Emergency Medicine reports that more than 1,000 cardiac arrest deaths over 15 years were connected to the failure of automated external defibrillators (AEDs); battery failure accounted for almost one-quarter of the failures.
PharMEDium Unveils New Website with Focus on Patient Safety
Aug. 15, 2011—PharMEDium Services, LLC, market leader for customized pharmacy sterile compounding for hospital intravenous and epidural therapies, launched its new website,www.pharmedium.com, which now provides updates on drug shortages, patient safety and ready-to-use pharmacy compounding services.
ABMS Announces the Creation of a Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Award
The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), the organization overseeing the certification of physician specialists in the United States, announces the creation of an award for a distinguished national leader in Health Care Quality and Patient Safety. Nominations must be submitted by Aug. 31.