Leapfrog Leader Pushes for Adoption of Expanded Medical Error Policy
Leapfrog is promoting a nine-point Never Event Policy to help health systems and hospitals address catastrophic medical errors. The nonprofit group defines a never event as egregious mistakes such as surgery performed on the wrong patient or foreign objects left inside a patient after surgery.
How BJC HealthCare Cut Patient Harm Events 75% by Targeting 5 Factors
In 2008, St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare launched a patient safety and quality improvement initiative that was designed to dramatically reduce patient harm events over a five-year period and sustain the reductions for an additional five years.
Multiple Injection Safety Violations Led to NJ Outbreak
Investigators found 41 patients with osteoarthritis contracted the rare infection following injections in their knee joints, with 33 requiring surgery to remove damaged tissue. The investigation found practices including lack of hand washing to inappropriate reuse of medication vials.
Steps Toward Better, More Efficient EVS Results
By: Steve Zimmerman, MBA, CHESP, T-CSCT, Director of Healthcare Services for ServiceMaster Clean Healing is the goal of every hospital. To promote healing, hospitals must provide an infection-free environment. The work of the environmental services department (EVS) is vital to that effort. EVS is far more than just housekeeping. In addition to cleaning floors and … Continued
Study: Cancer, Vascular Events, and Infections Make Up Most High-Harm Malpractice Claims
Researchers analyzed CRICO’s Comparative Benchmarking System, a database of more than 400,000 malpractice claims drawn from more than 400 academic and community medical centers that is estimated to contain 30% of all malpractice claims in the U.S.
New Decision Support Tool Reduces Sepsis Mortality by 22.9%
The computer-based decision support tool is called Sepsis Prediction and Optimization of Therapy (SPOT), and it can detect sepsis 18 hours earlier than the best clinicians.
Have Readmissions Penalties Jumped the Shark?
A new study in Health Affairs finds that 30-day hospital readmissions for hip and knee replacements began to decline rapidly when the federal government announced that it would penalize hospitals for certain readmissions.
Mold Found in Seattle Hospital ORs Leads to 1 Death, 5 Infections
Seattle Children’s says the ORs have been infested by mold at different points in the past year, possibly due to problems with the ORs’ air handling and purification systems.
Hone Nurse Listening Skills for Better Patient Experience
To improve nurses’ listening skills and create a better patient experience, nuances regarding listening must be understood.
NQF Calls for Quality Improvement in Emergency Care
The group’s evidence-based recommendations are designed to provide healthcare organizations with standardized methods of measuring, evaluating, and improving emergency care and patient outcomes.