WHO Announces Effort to Reduce Medication Errors
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced a new global initiative earlier this month, one that aims to halve the rate of medication errors by 2022.
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.
California Hospitals Lose Ground in Quality of Care, Report Card Shows
Nearly half of California hospitals received a grade of C or lower for patient safety on a national report card aimed at prodding medical centers to do more to prevent injuries and deaths.
Physician Group Creates Ethical Guidelines for EHR Use
The use of electronic health records (EHR) should be guided by ethical principles that put patient care at the forefront, according to a position paper published by the American College of Physicians (ACP).
ECRI: The Rules on Copying and Pasting Medical Information
n 2016, the ECRI Institute’s Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety released its Health IT Safe Practices: Toolkit for the Safe Use of Copy and Paste. The toolkit outlines the risks and benefits of reusing medical information in electronic health records (EHR), along with four safe-practice recommendations on copy and paste policies.
MA Nurses Support Bill to Protect Healthcare Workers
Workplace violence continues to be an issue in hospitals across the country; the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA) recently found that 86% of Massachusetts nurses have experienced some form of violence while at work, in the last two years.
While Washington Fiddles, CA Leaders Forge Ideas for Universal Healthcare
As the nation’s Republican leaders huddle to reconsider their plans to “repeal and replace” the nation’s health law, advocates for universal health coverage press on in California, armed with renewed political will and a new set of proposals.
Innovation in Pursuit of High-Reliability Culture
Although patient safety advocates have made strides in the past two decades, getting an entire medical staff to embrace high-reliability culture—also known as becoming a high-reliability organization (HRO)—requires a drastic shift in thinking.
Self-Reported Quality Measures Don’t Add Up, Study Says
Data from The Leapfrog Group’s doesn’t match Medicare data and suggests a lack of reliability in self-reported data, researchers say. Leapfrong says it “goes to extreme lengths” to verify survey data.
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?