Joint Commission Seeks Comments on Goals for Alarm Management
Through February 26, The Joint Commission is seeking comments about a proposed National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) on management of alarms.
New Designs to Make Health Records Easier for Patients to Use
Winning designs of printed health records to help patients better understand and use their electronic health records (EHRs) have been announced by Farzad Mostashari, M.D., the national coordinator for health information technology.
Paul H. Frisch Recognized for Excellence in Clinical Engineering and IT
Paul H. Frisch, PhD, FHIMSS, received the 2012 ACCE-HIMSS Excellence in Clinical Engineering and Information Technology Synergies Award, a joint award sponsored by ACCE and HIMSS. The Boards of Directors of both organizations selected the recipient.
St. Anthony’s Medical Center Selects Capsule Tech Connectivity Solutions
Capsule Tech, Inc., the leading provider of medical device connectivity solutions, has announced that St. Anthony’s Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri, will implement Capsule products in multiple care areas of the hospital.
Hand Hygiene Compliance Monitoring Enhancements Help Customize Report Data
DebMed, creator of the world’s first electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring system based on the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) “Five Moments for Hand Hygiene,” has released enhanced functionality for the hand hygiene compliance reports that are available in the DebMed GMS (Group Monitoring System).
Dr. Christine Cassel Named New President and CEO of National Quality Forum
The National Quality Forum Board of Directors has unanimously named Dr. Christine K. Cassel as its new president and chief executive officer. Dr. Cassel will begin her position at NQF effective mid-summer 2013.
Resident Fatigue, Stress Trigger Motor Vehicle Incidents
It appears that long, arduous hours in the hospital are causing more than stress and fatigue among doctors-in-training — they’re crashing, or nearly crashing, their cars after work, according to new Mayo Clinic research. Nearly half of the roughly 300 Mayo Clinic residents polled during the course of their residencies reported nearly getting into a motor vehicle crash during their training, and about 11 percent were actually involved in a traffic accident.
Minnesota Hospitals Improve Patient Safety
Concluding the first year of a two-year contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Minnesota’s hospitals participating in the Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Network record the prevention of more than 3,200 readmissions, 463 fewer patients experiencing a fall, and 158 fewer patients experiencing a pressure ulcer. The initiative builds on the Minnesota Hospital Association’s (MHA) award-winning Call-to-Action framework launched in 2007 and the statewide Reducing Avoidable Readmissions Effectively (RARE) campaign.
Costs of Care Announces Winning Essays: Providing High Value Care
Patients and their caregivers are uniquely positioned to recognize inefficiency in the healthcare system but are seldom empowered with information they need to reduce harmful spending. With the help of New England Journal of Medicine Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Drazen, former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, former White House advisor and bioethicist Zeke Emanuel, and New York Times columnist and surgeon Pauline Chen, Costs of Care (www.CostsOfCare.org) launched an innovative essay contest this fall aimed at elucidating both the challenges and opportunities to save patients’ money with routine, cost- conscious medical decisions.
Update on Meningitis Outbreak Caused by Mass. Compounding Pharmacy
The Nov/Dec issue of PSQH included news coverage and commentary about the fungal meningitis outbreak caused in late 2012 by contaminated medications that had been shipped throughout the country by a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts. In The New England Journal of Medicine, Smith et al. report that as of Dec. 10, 2012, the outbreak resulted in 590 reported cases of infection in 19 states and 37 patient deaths. According to the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, this outbreak is one of the most harmful adverse events ever associated with compounding pharmacies in the United States.