Technology
ClearCount Launches the SmartSponge Flex Surgical Sponge System
ClearCount Medical Solutions, a leader in patient safety solutions, announced on March 21 that it has updated its existing platform and launched the SmartSponge® Flex, a new addition to the SmartSponge family of products. The SmartSponge Flex provides ClearCount’s clinically preferred and patented RFID technology in a new cost-effective and compact package.
Infection Control
Catheter Connections Announces a Patent Notice of Allowance for IV Disinfection Technology
Catheter Connections announced in early March that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of Allowance for a patent application that broadly covers a method of disinfecting IV tubing end connectors. Upon issuance, the patent will expire no earlier than 2029.
Leadership
ASHRM Provides Nearly $200,000 in Research Funding
The American Society for Healthcare Risk Management (ASHRM) launched its new research program in March by awarding $195,000 to investigators engaged in evidence-based research. Applicants who received ASHRM funding are working to improve patient outcomes through their research on high reliability organizations, serious safety events and root cause analysis. This research is intended to improve patient safety, supporting ASHRM’s goal of “Getting to ZeroTM: Eliminating Preventable Serious Safety Events.”
Technology
URAC and the Leapfrog Group Announce “Excellence in Hospital Website Transparency Program”
URAC and the Leapfrog Group have partnered to develop the Excellence in Hospital Website Transparency Best Practices Awards and Acknowledgement Program to identify outstanding hospital websites that promote transparency of quality measures in a manner that is useful and user-friendly for consumers. All hospitals that publically report their Leapfrog Hospital Survey results are eligible.
Team Training
Graduate Nurse Education Demonstration
In March 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a call for applications for a new initiative designed to increase the nation’s primary care workforce by supporting facilities that train Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs). Under this new initiative, CMS will begin making payments from the $200 million of funds available in 2012 to eligible hospitals, helping them offset the costs of clinical training for APRN students.
Quality Improvement
NCQA Honors Health Quality Leaders
Nationally-known surgeon, writer and public health researcher Atul Gawande, MD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Helen Darling, President and CEO of the National Business Group on Health; Patricia Gabow, MD, CEO of Denver Health and Hospital Authority; and Paul Grundy, MD, Global Director of Health Care Transformation at IBM, were honored by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) with Health Quality Awards in Washington, D.C., on March 27.
Workplace Safety
UVa Healthcare Worker Safety Center and American Nurses Association Issue Call to Action
In the 10 years since the passage of the federal Needlestick Safety and Protection Act, much progress has been made to reduce the risk of healthcare worker exposure to bloodborne pathogens—yet significant challenges remain. Earlier in March, The International Healthcare Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia and the American Nurses Association (ANA), along with colleagues across the spectrum of healthcare, agreed on a Consensus Statement and Call to Action to address these issues.
Patient Safety
Quick Response Code-Enabled Patient Safety Education Program Launched
On March 13, Kimberly-Clark announced the launch of the QR (Quick Response) Code Patient Safety Education Program in collaboration with Safe Care Campaign to provide hospitals and healthcare facilities with free patient and caregiver education available instantly at the bedside.
Leadership
Ohio Children’s Hospitals Leading National Effort to Improve Hospital Care and Patient Safety
Leaders from 34 children’s hospitals from across the country gathered at Cardinal Health in Columbus, Ohio, on March 15 to launch a national effort to improve quality of care and patient safety in pediatric hospitals.
Leadership
Professional Interpreters in ER Need Training More Than Experience
Professional interpreters who received more than 100 hours of training in medical interpreting had nearly two-thirds fewer errors than those with fewer than 100 hours of training and significantly fewer errors with medical consequences than ad hoc interpreters, according to a study published on March 16 in Annals of Emergency Medicine (“Errors of Medical Interpretation and Their Potential Clinical Consequences: A Comparison of Professional vs. Ad Hoc vs. No Interpreters”).