CMS Urges Providers to Prep for 2019-nCoV
In QSO 20-09-ALL, CMS noted that healthcare organizations have been told to consider emerging infectious diseases as part of the all-hazards approach to emergency preparedness all healthcare providers have been required to follow since 2016. The memo also notes that the CDC continues to issue information on the 2019-nCoV that began in China at the end of last year and has infected thousands, including more than 600 people who have died.
Novel Coronavirus: What Clinicians Should Know
As of February 4, more than 20,000 cases of infections had been reported, with 98.9% of the cases in China, and the virus had been tied to more than 400 deaths.
Network Seeks to Reduce Drug Diversion, Increase Reporting Rate
So far, the network has tracked drug diversion at 90 hospitals, 28 nursing homes, and dozens of other types of healthcare facilities, including ambulatory surgical centers, assisted living centers, clinics, compounding pharmacies, medical laboratories, mental health facilities, pain clinics, rehabilitation homes, retail pharmacies, and schools.
Quality Measures and Improvement in Addiction Treatment
Historically, alcohol or drug use has been used as the primary measure of outcome in clinical trials, but how it has been measured has varied. Alcohol and drug use have been measured in varying ways: for example, as a percentage reduction in use over varying periods of time, number of days of abstinence over varying periods of time, or percentage of days abstinent over varying periods of time.
Massachusetts Weighs Hospital Wayfinding Regulation
The bills currently working their way through the Massachusetts legislature would require the state Department of Public Health to set regulations that require all Massachusetts hospitals to meet certain criteria to ensure safe patient access at all times to an emergency room or department. These measures would include indoor and outdoor signage, indoor and outdoor lighting, and best-practice wayfinding.
Industry Focus: Q&A: How to Improve Patient Handoffs
These transfers can be as dramatic as air-lifting a patient to a remote specialty hospital and telling the EMTs that the patient thinks he can fly and will try to jump out of the helicopter, or as mundane as a nurse ending her shift and telling her replacement the patient has been taken off a certain medicine. In both cases, not passing on this information can potentially harm the patient.
Risk Management and the Transgender Hospital Admission
These issues challenge healthcare providers and risk managers because not addressing them can result in a distrust of the medical team, a reluctance to disclose critical healthcare concerns out of fear of retaliation or embarrassment, and a greater risk of patient dissatisfaction and litigation.
A Lot Happens When You Report a Hazard or Error to ISMP—There’s No ‘Black Hole’ Here!
When ISMP receives a hazard or error report, it is entered into one of our databases and initially reviewed by an ISMP nurse or pharmacy technician analyst. Since most reports submitted to ISMP include the reporter’s email address, ISMP sends an email to the reporter to confirm receipt of the report and to thank him or her for reporting.
PSQH Innovation Award Winner: Cleveland Clinic Develops Algorithm to Power Early Warning System
The hospital and health system set up an early warning system (EWS) as a way to alert nurses to subtle changes in patient condition. But alerts alone aren’t enough, so they also developed an integrated workflow that supports patient assessment, contextual evaluation of clinical data, provider notification, interdisciplinary collaboration, and timely intervention.
Study: Staff Will Work Through Illness Despite Sick Policy
Researchers conducted active surveillance from December 2015 through April 2016 for respiratory viral infections among residents and healthcare providers at a 120-bed long-term care facility in the St. Louis area.