Study: Readmissions Sometimes Improve Patient Health

Are readmissions always bad? A new study by John Hopkins Medicine published in The Journal of Hospital Medicine says the answer is not as clear cut as once believed. Researchers looked at three years and 4,500 acute-care facilities worth of readmission and mortality data, finding that hospitals with high readmission rates tended to have lower mortality rates as well.

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Nurses At The Frontline of Hand Hygiene

Hospitals are always looking for ways to improve hand hygiene at their facility, given both the financial incentive of avoiding fines and patient safety concerns. The Mayo Clinic in Florida expanded the role of nurses in hand-hygiene compliance, making them the frontline advocates and “watchdogs” of hand hygiene.

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How A Robust Never Events Policy Can Alter Your Facility’s Culture

Think fast: Does your hospital have a “never events” policy? Does it include apologizing to the patients that were harmed and waiving their costs? Does it include a risk assessment?

If you answered “no” to any of those questions, you are one of the 20% of hospitals across the country that don’t have an adequate never events policy.

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Culture Building Tops List of Must-Have Leadership Skills

Cultivating a culture, communicating, and building a team are the most important leadership skills for facing the demands of an evolving healthcare landscape. So say the nearly 500 executives, clinical leaders, and clinicians who responded to the NEJM Catalyst Insights Council’s recent leadership survey.

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Joint Commission and CDC Team Up on Ambulatory Infection Prevention

The Joint Commission and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are working on a new initiative to improve infection control in ambulatory care settings. The Adaptation and Dissemination Outpatient Infection PrevenTion (ADOPT) project will promote existing CDC infection prevention (IP) guidance while also making updated and alterations.

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