Digging Into the Patient Safety Risks From Hospital Mergers
The study’s authors found that after system expansions, healthcare institutions may experience significant changes in patient populations, including increases in general volume and in patients with demographic characteristics or conditions that a given facility might not have previously served.
Alternatives to Lifting Patients
According to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) statistics, worker injuries from slips, trips, and falls are one of the agency’s biggest concerns, especially in hospitals. Injury and illness rates in healthcare, at 5.2 cases for every 100 workers, continue to be above the national average, which is 3.5 cases per 100.
Smart Pump Custom Concentrations Without Hard ‘Low Concentration’ Alerts Can Lead to Patient Harm
During our latest summit, we focused on optimizing use of the technology during administration of secondary and intermittent infusions, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), epidural infusions, plain IV solutions, and perioperative/anesthesia medications; preparing for pump-electronic health record (EHR) interoperability; and library analytics.
Musings on Patient Safety, Processes, and HIT
While working on a consulting project in Chile, I connected with representatives from the Universidad Andres Bello who requested an interview to discuss my perspectives on patient safety and the role of processes and technology in delivering safe care.
Rise in Outpatient Care Leads to Rise in Community-Associated Infections
An October 2017 study in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, “Risk Factors for Community-Associated Clostridium difficile Infection in Adults: A Case-Control Study,” found that from 2011 to 2014, instances of community-associated C. diff infections in the U.S. grew from 35% of all C. diff infections to 41%.
How Nurses Can Prevent Social Media Mishaps
Reviewing hospital policies with their staff is one step nurse leaders can take to help prevent these types of incidents.
RAND Urges More Patient Input in Hospital Rankings
Hospitals closely watch their rankings on sites like CMS’s Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings System, available on Hospital Compare, because they can have significant impact on consumer choices and even reimbursement levels.
Update: Identifying Human Trafficking Patients Alert
Trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world, and America is one of the largest markets for victims. The Health and Human Services Department estimates that 88% of trafficking victims visit a healthcare provider at least once during their captivity and aren’t recognized as victims.
Safety Standards Pose Problems for TJC-Accredited Hospitals
Released in the September issue of Perspectives, the data was aggregated from 676 applicable Joint Commission hospital surveys from January 1 through June 30.
Advocacy Group Urges HHS to Halt Sepsis Trial
Public Citizen claims the Crystalloid Liberal or Vasopressors Early Resuscitation in Sepsis (CLOVERS) trial is dangerous because patients are being given one of two treatments for sepsis, both of which are risky and neither of which is considered standard treatment.