Policies and Procedures for Healthcare Organizations: A Risk Management Perspective
Risk management professionals should not take lightly the complexity associated with providing healthcare services. While regulations, third-party payer requirements, and licensing/accreditation standards contribute to this complexity, formalized policies and procedures can mitigate it by promoting workplace safety, regulatory compliance, and the delivery of safe, high-quality patient care.
Best Practices for Conducting an RCA: Are There Any?
Patient safety has been a priority in the healthcare industry for 15 years. Despite the call to action provided by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1999 (Kohn, Corrigan & Donaldson, 2000), studies 5 and 10 years later revealed that while improvements in safety have been made…
Incident Reporting Systems
The Joint Commission and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandate that facilities have a way to track adverse events. Some states also have reporting requirement for certain types of adverse events.
Patient and Family Centered Care: Error Disclosure and Investigation
This is the fourth and final article in a series on patient- and family-centered care. In it, Valerie continues the story of her son Max, who was born with a congenital cardiac anomaly, and describes how she intercepted a medical error before it reached him.
Using RTLS to Protect Different Patient Populations
In healthcare, real-time location systems (RTLS) have for a long time been thought of primarily as asset-tracking systems, useful mainly for keeping track of equipment such as wheelchairs, gurneys, and infusion pumps. But RTLS systems are now being used to protect the safety of healthcare patients, from infants to sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease.
Health IT & Quality: A Symphony of Evidence-Based Staffing
For more than 100 years, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has entertained audiences in Symphony Hall, one of the finest musical halls in the world. As information technology advanced, the BSO deployed numerous systems to manage ticketing, payroll, and personnel management in an effort to automate processes and lower costs.
A Symphony of Evidence-Based Staffing (2)
For more than 100 years, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) has entertained audiences in Symphony Hall, one of the finest musical halls in the world. As information technology advanced, the BSO deployed numerous systems to manage ticketing, payroll, and personnel management in an effort to automate processes and lower costs.
Two Hip Replacement Surgeries: Lessons Learned about Patient Responsibility, Self-Advocacy, and Personal Health Information
It’s true. I’m much younger than the average age for hip replacement surgery. At 44, six years ago, an orthopedist replaced my left hip. Six months ago, a different orthopedist replaced my right hip. I guess you could say I’m “really hip.” To what, I am still trying to find out.
Third Annual Healthcare Awards Honor Outstanding Environmental Services Technicians
The Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE), a personal membership group of the American Hospital Association (AHA), and Kimberly-Clark Professional have announced the recipients of the third annual Heart of Healthcare Awards, honoring outstanding environmental services technicians who make a difference for patients and long-term care residents.
Enhance Patient Safety with Better Barcoding
Hospitals seeking to conquer the stubbornly persistent problem of patient safety can start by expanding the adoption of barcoding technology into all areas of the hospital, from the patient room to the lab to the pharmacy. Although barcoding outcomes to date may have fallen short of expectations, it’s important to recognize that both the technology and utilization are maturing, providing the opportunity to make great strides toward improved safety and quality of care at a fraction of the time and cost investment required for an enterprise-wide electronic health record (EHR) implementation.