Study Finds Many Hospitals Have Insufficient Volumes for High-risk Surgeries
The report, Safety In Numbers: Hospital Performance on Leapfrog’s Surgical Volume Standard Based on Results of the 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Survey, also found that a higher percentage of hospitals met Leapfrog’s minimum volume standards in 2019 than 2018.
We Need Your Input On Patient Safety and Quality
Please take a few minutes to complete the survey by clicking on the link below. The survey results will be compiled in a downloadable report, with highlights published in the next print issue of PSQH coming in May.
Study: Low-Temperature Sterilization of Medical Tools is Problematic
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tested the effectiveness of three low-temperature technologies, often used for plastic tools, against steam sterilization by simulating the impact of proteins and salts left on tools before sterilization.
Survey Highlights Pervasive Drug Diversion Problem in U.S. Hospitals
The survey found that 86% surveyed have met or know someone who has diverted drugs, with another 43% indicating their facility could be at risk of fines, bad publicity, lawsuits, or overdoses because of past or potential drug diversion cases.
Human Performance Limitations in Medicine: A Cognitive Focus
Most of the time, the last person in a chain of errors is assigned the blame for the final outcome of a procedure gone wrong. In the case of medicine, this is usually the physician, surgeon, anesthesiologist, or other caretaker who assumes primary responsibility for a patient’s safety.
Verma Raps Accrediting Organizations’ ‘Glaring Conflict of Interest’
Delivering the opening remarks at the 2020 CMS Quality Conference in Washington, D.C., Verma said her agency is “looking at ways to enhance our oversight of accrediting organizations.”
How Data Analytics Will Improve Patient Care
In this Q&A with Christopher Rafter, chief operating officer of Tampa-based Inzata Analytics, he speaks about the future of data analytics in healthcare and how they can improve the effectiveness of patient care.
Patient Safety Trends for the Next Two Decades
Christopher Dore, senior product manager with Capsule Technologies, addresses questions about the patient safety trends that hospitals will need to deal with in the next 20 years, as well as takes a quick look at the last 20.
Contact-Free Continuous Monitoring: How Arnot Ogden Medical Center Protects Patients From Clinical Deterioration
At Arnot Ogden Medical Center, a not-for-profit, 256-bed tertiary medical facility in Elmira, New York, we’ve long used traditional telemetry devices and methods in our four cardiology units to monitor patients’ vital signs. But we also wanted to give this added layer of protection to other hospital patients without incurring the costs of installing telemetry systems.
HHS Unveils Strategy to Reduce EHR Burden for Clinicians
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs, mandated by the 21st Century Cures Act, aims to reduce the effort and time required by clinicians to meet reporting requirements, record health information, and improve the functionality and intuitiveness of EHRs.