Barcode Technology for Positive Patient Identification Prior to Transfusion

Barcode Technology for Positive Patient Identification Prior to Transfusion

Renewed initiative engages nurses and achieves 100% compliance. 

In today’s increasingly complex, highly demanding clinical environment, introducing a new technology is challenging under the best of circumstances. What if, right when roll-out is going well, an unrelated connectivity interruption leads nurses to conclude “this doesn’t work”? You need to get your initiative back on track—especially when it relates to improving the safety of a critically important patient-care process.

Read More »

Forever Changed: Shared Learning in Patient Safety

In an effort to promote patient safety, Baptist Health South Florida (Baptist Health) has instituted the Shared Learning process, the purpose of which is to educate and communicate with all stakeholders—our clinical staff, the Quality and Patient Safety Steering Council, and board members—in a proactive way.

Read More »

Design for Reliability: Barcoded Medication Administration

Design for Reliability: Barcoded Medication Administration

There is now widespread agreement that hospital patients can be harmed by medication errors. Providing patients with medications in the acute care setting is a complex process that requires coordination in the flow of information when individuals order, transcribe, verify, dispense, and administer a medication. Early studies quantified the extent to which errors occur at each of these stages; one of the most troubling steps in the process is the administration phase, when 26 to 38% of the errors occur (Bates et al., 1995; Leape et al., 1995).

Read More »

Editor’s Note: Training Options

Effective training is crucial for safety improvement, and there is a wide range of programs and approaches available for healthcare. I’ve had the opportunity recently to reflect on three in particular: train-the-trainer, TeamSTEPPS, and Virtual Experience Immersive Learning Simulation (VEILS®).

Read More »

Steps Needed to Ensure Home Medical Devices Are Easy-to-Use and Caregivers Are Well-Trained

Washington, D.C., July 18, 2011—A new report from the National Research Council recommends steps the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies and professional associations can take to ensure that the medical devices and health information technology used in home health care are easy and safe for laypeople to use and that caregivers, whether formal or informal, are well-trained.

Read More »

Call for Letters of Intent to Conduct Research and Development in Patient Safety

The National Patient Safety Foundation’s Research Grants Program seeks to stimulate new, innovative projects directed toward enhancing patient safety in the United States. The Program’s objective is to promote studies leading to the prevention of human errors, system errors, patient injuries and the consequences of such adverse events in the healthcare setting.

Read More »