So Much Care It Hurts: Unneeded Scans, Therapy, Surgery Only Add To Patient’s Ills
From duplicate blood tests to unnecessary knee replacements, millions of patients are being bombarded with screenings, scans and treatments that offer little or no benefit.
IAD: An Avoidable and Preventable Complication of Care
Clinical assessment of IAD is foundational for effective prevention and management, yet it remains a challenge for bedside staff.
How to Spot Suicide and Ligature Risks in Your Facility
Last year The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert to hospitals urging them to do a better job of identifying suicidal ideation in patients, this year the accreditor is doubling down, issuing specific warnings in Joint Commission publications and FAQs outlining concerns about ligature, or hanging, risks.
Structured Patient Handoffs: The Movement Toward Adverse Event Reduction in the Perioperative Unit
The use of a standardized handoff checklist tool improves time efficiency, reduces medication discrepancies, and there is a reduction of deficits or missed communications in the handoff process.
You’ve Got Harm
For 11 months, two AHS hospitals tried out an automated system called the Automated All-Cause Harm Trigger System (ACHTS). The system’s software uses 41 algorithms to monitor electronic medical records (EMR) for signs that harm has befallen a patient, with flagged charts sent to a reviewer to examine. By the end of the study, the ACHTS caught 2,696 cases of patient harm, compared to the 132 harms caught using the old sampling method.
Study: ED Intervention Reduces Suicide Attempts by 30%
Intervention efforts included additional suicide screening, suicide prevention info, and a personalized safety plan for dealing with future suicide ideation, and periodic telephone follow-ups. Those who received these interventions made 30% fewer total suicide attempt than others.
Bringing Universal Suicide Screening to Your Hospital
In 2014, the Parkland Health and Hospital System (PHHS) in Dallas became the first in the nation to establish a universal suicide screening program (SSP) in all its departments. The program screens every admitted patient for suicidal ideation, regardless of the patient’s chief complaint or estimated risk.
Why Are Medical Errors Still a Leading Cause of Death?
The conversation around tracking medical errors highlights a lack of safety cultures resulted in the question: why aren’t we doing more research into strategies that can reduce medical errors?
How Palomar Health Reduced Nuisance IV Alarms
People can grow used to anything, even alarms. Such is the danger of alarm fatigue; when excessive and nuisance alerts cause healthcare staff to become desensitized.
Study: Postoperative Complications Are A Major Concern For Hospitals
In November 2016, a study published in the British Journal of Anesthesia (BJA) found that each year there are 50 million postoperative complications worldwide.