Hospital Now Uses Stanley Healthcare’s Wi-Fi RTLS to Track Trauma Surgeons

Stanley Healthcare, a market leading provider of safety, security and operational efficiency solutions for the healthcare industry, has announced innovative ways by which Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare is leveraging its Stanley Healthcare AeroScout® Real-Time Location System (RTLS) to solve business and clinical needs. The hospital has now further extended its Stanley Healthcare RTLS solution to automate staff tracking.

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Bar Code Laser ID System Provides Positive Identification for Patients of All Age Demographics

PDC Healthcare, the global leader of innovative identification solutions, has extended its DuraSoft® Laser Patient ID System to encompass the entire patient population including infants, pediatrics, and adults. Through bar code technology, the DuraSoft® Laser Patient ID System benefits both patients and caregivers by preventing misidentification caused by human error while improving workflow efficiencies.

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Surgical Patients’ Mortality Rates Drop at ACS NSQIP Hospitals in California

A new study evaluating surgical outcomes at California hospitals enrolled in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®) found surgical patients at ACS NSQIP hospitals had significantly reduced mortality rates compared with non-ACS NSQIP hospitals. These findings were presented Sunday, July 14, 2013 at the ACS NSQIP National Conference in San Diego, Calif.

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Final HHS Health IT Safety Plan Issued

A plan to guide health information technology (IT) activities across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to eliminate medical errors, protect patients, and improve the quality and efficiency of health care has been issued by HHS.

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Long-Term and Acute-Care Organizations Collaborate to Fight Infection

PSQH, like most of the safety and quality improvement community, has focused primarily on hospitals and increasingly on primary care. At the annual conference of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control (APIC) earlier this month, I learned about important improvement work underway in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Current trends, such as the growth of accountable care and baby boomers easing into old age, will bring increasing attention to the quality and efficiency of LTC. Based on what I heard at APIC, there’s valuable work being done, success stories to share, and tremendous—if elementary—challenges ahead.

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Pilot Program Using Telemedicine to Decrease Emergency Room Wait Times

Emergency department (ED) overcrowding has been a major issue nationally for 20 years and continues to increase in severity.  To address this issue, a pilot study has been launched at UC San Diego Health System’s ED to use telemedicine as a way to help address crowding and decrease patient wait times.  The study is the first of its kind in California to use cameras to bring on-call doctors who are outside of the hospital to the patient in need.

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