Emergency Care Innovation Award of the Year
Application deadline is July 31, 2015. The Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award is an annual competition sponsored by Urgent Matters, Blue Jay Consulting, and Schumacher Group. The award recognizes multidisciplinary emergency department-based teams who have implemented a process or strategy to improve patient, clinical, and operational outcomes and can demonstrate measureable assessment of … Continued
AHA Recognizes Hospitals with the Equity of Care Award
Grants & Awards Award honors hospitals for promoting diversity, reducing health disparities. Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, New Jersey, are both winners of the American Hospital Association’s second annual Equity of Care Award. The AHA award recognizes hospitals for their efforts to reduce healthcare … Continued
Brain and Spine Surgery No More Risky When Physicians-In-Training Participate, Study Finds
Having residents—physicians in training—participate in surgery does not in itself increase a patient’s risk of postoperative complications or of dying within 30 days of the surgery, according to a recent study of more than 16,000 brain and spine surgeries. A report on the study appears in the April issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery. “Patients … Continued
Shulkin Confirmed as Under Secretary of Health for US Department of Veterans Affairs
The U.S. Senate has confirmed David J. Shulkin, MD, as the Under Secretary of Health for Veterans Affairs. As the chief executive of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Shulkin will lead the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system with more than 1,700 sites of care, serving 8.76 million veterans each year. VHA is also the nation’s … Continued
Root Cause Analysis: ‘We can do better.’
By Susan Carr Saying, “We can do better,” Jim Bagian declared that root cause analysis (RCA)—the subject of a new report by the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF)—offers uncommon potential to improve safety and that, in general, healthcare has not used it well and wasted opportunities to prevent future harm. Bagian and Doug Bonacum were … Continued
ABMRS Administers First Exam for MR Safety Certification
On Wednesday, June 24, 2015, the American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety (ABMRS) administered the first examination to certify individuals with the credentials MR Medical Director/Physician (MRMD) and MR Safety Officer (MRSO). More than 100 radiologists, technologists, and medical physicists took the exam for either the MRMD or MRSO. Only licensed physicians may sit for … Continued
Shulkin Confirmed as Under Secretary of Health for US Department of Veterans Affairs
The U.S. Senate has confirmed David J. Shulkin, MD, as the Under Secretary of Health for Veterans Affairs. As the chief executive of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Shulkin will lead the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system with more than 1,700 sites of care, serving 8.76 million veterans each year. VHA is also the nation’s … Continued
National Program to Improve the Quality of Geriatric Surgical Patient Care Announced by American College of Surgeons and John A. Hartford Foundation
CHICAGO (June 11, 2015): Today, the American College of Surgeons (ACS), in partnership with the John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF), announced it will conduct a four-year initiative that will lead to improved care of older surgical patients through a standards and verification program for hospitals.
Learning About Safety from Other Industries
Healthcare sometimes looks to other industries to identify safety practices that are applicable to the mission of reducing adverse events and enhancing patient safety. Aviation has been popular in this regard. Far less often mentioned is the construction industry, which shares with healthcare the operation of a relatively dangerous enterprise. While construction usually does not have on-site customers, each person’s activities can present ample risk to others. Fellow workers are in a situation analogous to patients in that they rely on other people to keep them safe. Despite this, I had not given construction much thought from the healthcare safety perspective (falling cranes in New York City not withstanding) until I was recently in Brooklyn and saw a sign at the entrance to a construction site that read “Have you done your pre-task plan today?”
Learning About Safety from Other Industries
By William A. Hyman, ScD Healthcare sometimes looks to other industries to identify safety practices that are applicable to the mission of reducing adverse events and enhancing patient safety. Aviation has been popular in this regard. Far less often mentioned is the construction industry, which shares with healthcare the operation of a relatively dangerous enterprise. … Continued