The Transformation of Healthcare
Our approach to health is undergoing a transformation, with profound implications for the role of the patient, the practice and business of medicine, and for many of the efforts we’ve come to think of as patient safety projects. The impulses feeding this transformation come largely from the public—consumers, politicians, government agencies, nonprofit organizations—not so much from providers and traditional medical institutions. This transformation is consistent with a broad-based consumerism movement, driven in part by access to information and technology.
Editor’s Notebook: Personal Accountability
Editor’s Notebook
Personal Accountability
I’m struck by the number and variety of patient safety initiatives that individuals, organizations, and government entities have underway. We’re engaged in so many different activities in the name of safety and quality, it’s hard to tell if we’re headed collectively toward a coherent goal. Despite success stories and pockets of excellence, many still wonder if we’re better off than we were a decade ago. In patient safety, how can we be sure that we’re cultivating a forest and not just a vast collection of specimen trees?
Video Monitoring System Measures Hand-washing Compliance
The North Shore-LIJ Health System is expanding a first-of-its-kind video monitoring system used to measure hand-washing compliance at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, NY, by introducing cameras in operating rooms at Forest Hills (NY) Hospital.
More Denominators
In the last issue of PSQH, I wrote about different takes on the concept of numerators and denominators. Kerry O’Connell leaves the comfortable world of uneventful patients (denominators) when he experiences preventable harm and joins the numerators. National Coordinator for Health IT Farzad Mostashari, on the other hand, thinks of denominators as patients whose individual characteristics—including chronic and underlying conditions in need of treatment—may be invisible until brought to light through electronic records and analytics.
GOJO Announces Launch of SMARTLINK™ Hand Hygiene Solutions
GOJO Industries, a leader in hand hygiene and skin health and inventors of PURELL® Hand Sanitizer, is assisting Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (TSRHC) in measuring and improving hand hygiene compliance through its SMARTLINK Activity Monitoring System.
Philips Healthcare Launches Healthcare Transformation Services Business
Royal Philips Electronics has launched its Healthcare Transformation Services Business, which in collaboration with healthcare service providers, will offer consulting services to improve the operational and financial performance of hospitals and health systems, and improve patient outcomes across the continuum of care from diagnosis to treatment and after care at home.
New IOM Report Explores Inter-professional Education for Healthcare Workforce
The latest report from the Institute of Medicine summarizes the work of the Global Forum on Innovation in Health Professional Education. The Forum held two workshops in 2012 focused on the connection between inter-professional education and collaborative practice. The report summarizes the results of the workshops.
National Patient Safety Foundation Announces Recipients of the 2013 Stand Up for Patient Safety Management Award
The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) has announced the winners of the 2013 Stand Up For Patient Safety Management Award. The award for a hospital-based project will go to JPS Health Network of Fort Worth, Texas. The award for ambulatory care will be given to the 97th Medical Group, Altus AFB, in Altus, Oklahoma.
Physician Patient Safety Leader Named President of National Patient Safety Foundation
The Board of Directors of the National Patient Safety Foundation announced today that Tejal K. Gandhi, MD, MPH, will become the Foundation’s next president, effective July 1. The announcement came at the opening session of the 15th Annual NPSF Patient Safety Congress, which is being held this week in New Orleans.
PCORI Awards Funding for Comparative Effectiveness Research Projects
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has approved 51 new awards, totaling $88.6 million over three years, to fund patient-centered comparative clinical effectiveness research (CER) projects under the first four areas of its National Priorities for Research and Research Agenda. This brings the total that PCORI has awarded for projects addressing these priorities to $129.3 million. PCORI also has committed another $30 million in funding for a series of pilot projects.