Three years ago, I traveled across the nation on a whirlwind tour that is the medical school interview process. Among all the facility walk-throughs, lunches with students, and the all-important interviews, one topic continued to show up like medical students at a free lunch: interdisciplinary education.

Infection control comes in many different packages these days. Critical care facilities have long noted the importance of hand hygiene and so have the various health standards and safety organizations. Indeed, “hand hygiene continues to be identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as the single most important and basic intervention to reduce…

It has been more than a decade since a major study at a 725-bed academic medical center found that 67% of 426 in-process intravenous (IV) infusions had one or more discrepancies, including potentially fatal errors such as heparin ordered for 1300 units/hour that was infusing at 200 units/hour, an amiodarone infusion ordered…

The effective transfer of patient care information is essential to a patient’s continuity of care whether conveyed in written documents, verbally, or electronically. Ineffective communication and transfer of patient information has been associated with medical errors, patient harm, and patient dissatisfaction.

Two articles in this issue are part of an ongoing series about interprofessional and multidisciplinary education in healthcare. Most authors are members of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Open School community (www.ihi.org/openschool), which offers alternative learning opportunities, and online training in quality improvement and patient safety.

As a medical student rotating through outpatient clinics and hospitals in Ohio in 2008, I felt underwhelmed by the initial experience. In both settings, I witnessed employees working incredibly hard with little interdepartmental communication—even when taking care of the same patients.

Have you noticed anything different about Dr. Blott recently? It used to be that when he came to make rounds, he was friendly and willing to help out, but now he seems aloof and barely makes eye contact. When I call him about a patient, he acts like I am bothering him, and he’s very abrupt and insensitive.

Concern for the safety of health information technology (HIT) is long-standing, and recent reports have catapulted HIT safety to prominence.

In April 2014, students from Wright State University (WSU)’s Boonshoft School of Medicine and College of Nursing and Health teamed up with pharmacy students from Cedarville University—all based in Ohio—to participate in an extracurricular activity they hoped would herald a new approach to their combined curriculums.

The Liberty QualityCare Client Satisfaction Survey is designed to provide an annual measurement of outcomes for a national, private, physician-owned corporation established in 1986. Liberty Healthcare Corporation provides healthcare management and staffing for acute care behavioral health, mental health, dual diagnosis with intellectual/developmental disabilities, correctional mental health, and primary care settings.