ABQAURP News
Health Care Providers—Are WE a Quality Conundrum?
System Monitors Patient Movement, Improves Reliability of Routine Patient Care Tasks, and Reduces Incidence of Pressure Ulcers
Quality healthcare delivery has never been more achievable. Our knowledge of human physiology and diagnosing and treating disease is comprehensive. The armamentarium of diagnostic tools, therapeutic modalities and patient monitoring capabilities is considerable. So why do adverse and sentinel events continue to plague healthcare delivery?
New York Metro-North Train Crash Offers an Opportunity
The deadly train derailment that occurred on Dec. 1, 2013, north of New York City apparently offers another example of an industry—or at least one heavily traveled commuter line—that is ripe to learn the lessons of safety science. With Dr. Lucian Leape’s discovery 25 years ago of the science of human error, healthcare began to assimilate knowledge from other disciplines and to improve safety by addressing the underlying, latent causes of error and harm. It appears that railroads would benefit from the same.
Grant Funding Available from AHRQ for Patient Safety Learning Laboratories
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) invites applications for funding to support the creation of “patient safety learning laboratories,” described by AHRQ as “places and professional networks where interrelated threats to patient safety can be identified, where multidisciplinary teams generate new ways of thinking with respect to the threats, and where environments are established conducive to brainstorming and rapid prototyping techniques that stimulate further thinking.”
FDA Issues Proposed Rule to Determine Safety and Effectiveness of Antibacterial Soaps
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a proposed rule to require manufacturers of antibacterial hand soaps and body washes to demonstrate that their products are safe for long-term daily use and more effective than plain soap and water in preventing illness and the spread of certain infections. Under the proposal, if companies do not demonstrate such safety and effectiveness, these products would need to be reformulated or relabeled to remain on the market.
Welltok Taps IBM Watson to Create Novel Health Optimization Service for Consumers
Welltok, Inc., the leading Social Health Management company, is partnering with IBM to bring a unique collaborative solution called CaféWell Concierge powered by IBM Watson to market. The new, easy-to-use solution will offer healthcare consumers the ability to identify personalized activities, health content and condition management programs to optimize their health and get rewarded for positive behavior change.
90% of States Get Failing Grade for Making Consumer Information on Physician Quality Available
To shed light on the availability of information for consumers on the quality of their doctors, a new scorecard finds the vast majority of states get a failing grade – D or F. Developed by the non-profit Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute (HCI3), the State Report Card on Transparency of Physician Quality Information found that only two states received an A – Minnesota and Washington – and one state, California, got a C.
CommonWell Health Alliance to Launch Initial Interoperability Service Offerings
CommonWell Health Alliance (the “Alliance”) – the health information technology (HIT) vendor-led interoperability effort – has announced that Chicago, Illinois; Elkin and Henderson, North Carolina; and Columbia, South Carolina have been selected as participating regions for its first rollout of CommonWell’s interoperability services. Additional provider sites and geographies will be announced in the coming months.
Joint Commission “R3 Report” Explains New Clinical Alarm National Patient Safety Goal
The Joint Commission recently released an “R3 Report” for the new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) that requires accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals to improve the safety of their clinical alarm systems. “R3 Report” provides accredited healthcare organizations and interested healthcare professionals in-depth information about the rationale and references that were employed in the development of the new alarm NPSG.
System Secures, Tracks Medication Deliveries Sent Through Existing Pneumatic Tube Delivery Systems
Aethon Inc. has unveiled a patent-pending system that secures and tracks medication deliveries sent through a hospital’s existing pneumatic tube system and guarantees medication is delivered to authorized personnel. Pneumatic tube systems are used extensively to deliver medications through hospitals. Yet, missing or delayed doses cost the hospital millions of dollars in lost productivity, inventory, and safety concerns.