Viewpoint: Let’s Fix One Real Problem with Patient Safety
By Annie Callanan and Frank Mazza, MD
Measurement has proven foundational to advancing individual and collective performance in every business endeavor, vocational pursuit, professional sport, and recreational hobby. People do not always appreciate being measured, and some fear the implication more than others. But every successful advancement over the past century has been aided, and ultimately affirmed, by metrics that authenticate comparative achievement.
Measurements serve as foundational pillars underlying performance in every facet of our lives. They form the basis of compensation structures, bragging rights, passions, and failures. Measurements define individuals for whom they are and how they evolve and progress. A systematic approach to measurement has even permeated 21st-century philanthropy, thanks in no small part to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which counts deep inroads toward the ultimate elimination of malaria as a victory of actionable assessment (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 2010; What we do, n.d.).
Patient Safety Experts Highlight Key Concerns for 2016
For many healthcare facilities, a new year means new goals. As we say goodbye to 2015, patient safety experts from around the country share their focus areas for the coming year. Improving EHR systems After spending the last several years implementing, launching, and optimizing a system-wide electronic medical record (EMR) system, Henry Ford Health System … Continued
CMS Announces Standardized Quality Measures
CMS and America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) released seven quality measures yesterday that aim to reduce the cost of measuring clinical quality while supporting multi-payer alignment on core measures for physician quality programs. The new measure sets will improve informed consumer decision-making, reduce variability in measure selection, collection burden, and cost, according to CMS. “In … Continued
MITSS Presents Annual HOPE Award to Jeanine Thomas
MITSS presented Jeanine Thomas, president of the MRSA Survivors Network, with this year’s HOPE Award. MITSS, or Medically Induced Trauma Support Services, Inc., is a nonprofit organization founded in 2002 whose mission is to support healing and restore hopeto patients, families, and clinicians impacted by adverse medical events. The MITSS HOPE Award, first given out in 2008, recognizes the people and organizations that support the people affected by those events.
PSQH Applies for BPA Worldwide Business Publication Membership
Danvers, MA February 2016 – Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (www.psqh.com) has applied for business publication membership in BPA Worldwide. The magazine is published by BLR (Danvers, MA). BPA Worldwide will track circulation for Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH) based on business/distribution, demographics and geographic coverage. The magazine will have 12 months to complete … Continued
Using Haddon’s Matrix in an Aggregate Review of Falls
By Mel Bradley, MD, MSPH
Haddon’s matrix is an incident analysis and prevention tool composed of two dimensions: rows equating to incident phases and columns representing the epidemiological triad of host, agent, and environment (Figure 1) (Haddon, 1980). The pre-incident and incident cells are filled with factors that have contributed to an incident or potential contributors to an anticipated incident. Mitigation controls to help prevent similar incidents from occurring are delineated in the post-incident cells.
Using Big Data Meaningfully to Improve Quality and Safety
By Hardeep Singh,MD, MPH; and Dean F. Sittig, PhD
It’s rare to attend a conference on quality, safety, or informatics without feeling the excitement of “big data,” a loose term referring to large volumes of interconnected (and often unverified) data that may be updated and processed rapidly.
The Internet of Healthcare Things
By Mitch Work, MPA, FHIMSS
Many healthcare organizations are currently seeking to leverage the potential benefits of the Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT), where objects have network connectivity and data can be shared and analyzed, resulting in better, more efficient healthcare and giving patients the power to proactively care for themselves.
Six Professional Schools Provide Team-Based Learning
By Nazanin Kuseh Kalani Yazd
The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus approaches interprofessional education in a manner that mimics the reality of working on an interprofessional team. To prepare students to work in a field that requires coordination across many different disciplines, the University of Colorado takes advantage of the diversity at its health sciences campus by bringing together students from six professional schools in one interprofessional course. In the Interprofessional Education and Development (IPED) course, students in the medical, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and physician assistant programs collaborate to solve team-based exercises in 16 two-hour sessions over the course of two years.
Policies for the Use of Personal Mobile Devices in Surgical Suites
By Anne V. Irving, MA, FACHE, CPHRM, DFASHRM
Human factors studies indicate that distractions and multitasking increase the likelihood of error (Feil, 2013; Wiegmann, ElBardissi, Dearani, Daly, & Sundt, 2007). Allowing personnel to bring their cell phones, smartphones, or other mobile devices into a surgical suite introduces a new distraction into an already complex, noisy, high-stakes environment.