New Sentinel Event Alert Focuses on Preventing Patient Falls
Preventing patient falls and fall-related injuries is the focus of the Sentinel Event Alert: Issue 55 released by The Joint Commission. The new alert examines the contributing factors to patient falls and includes suggested solutions to be implemented by health care organizations to help reduce patient falls and falls with injury, according to the press … Continued
Study Finds Higher Rates of Perioperative Medication Errors than Previous Research
A study published in the October 2015 issue of Anesthesiology reports on the frequency of medication errors and adverse events in the perioperative setting. The rates of errors and events were significantly higher than documented by previous studies. The recent study found: A drug error or adverse drug event occurred in approximately 1 in 20 … Continued
Study Shows Positive Effects From UVC Robot
A new study on use of UV light in the short C-wavelength (UVC) for disinfection was presented at IDWeek 2015. The study showed that Tru-D SmartUVC significantly reduced healthcare-associated infections (HAI) caused by common multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) in hospitals. Tru-D SmartUVC was the UVC device selected for this study and proved its ability to reduce … Continued
AMA and MedStar Health Partner to Improve EHR Usability
In an effort to promote transparency around how electronic health records (EHRs) are designed and user-tested, and drive improvements in clinician support and patient safety, the American Medical Association (AMA) and MedStar Health’s National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare have developed a comparative EHR User-Centered Design Evaluation Framework that reveals a lack of focus … Continued
Team-Based Learning and Student-Run Clinic Support Interdisciplinary Education
By Nazanin Kuseh Kalani Yazd The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus approaches interprofessional education in a manner that mimics the reality of working on an interprofessional team. To prepare students to work in a field that requires coordination across many different disciplines, the University of Colorado takes advantage of the diversity at its health … Continued
Medication Management Training Improves CMS Quality Metrics, New Study Finds
Scores improve in hospitalization, readmission and high-risk disease states A new study shows that medication management educational tools can improve key Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quality measures. Following a seven-month program developed by Prescriber’s Letter drug advisory service, Quality Independent Physicians (QIP) successfully decreased patient hospitalization across all disease states by 26%. … Continued
Medfusion Launches Mobile App to Simplify Healthcare Records
To provide patients with a single destination for all of their medical records, Medfusion—a patient engagement platform dedicated to facilitating the relationship between doctors and patients—has developed a consumer mobile application called Medfusion Plus. For decades, if patients wanted access to their medical records, they had to request and pay for a paper copy, which … Continued
Adverse Events: Recognizing, Reporting, Analyzing
While we must continue to emphasize to all members of the care team that they are the front line to preventing errors, taking a systems or holistic approach will greatly assist in making adverse events rarer. Aiding in the implementation of the latter are many companies that provide incident reporting, analysis, and review systems.
Health Systems and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Enter Joint Venture to Improve Population Health in New Hampshire
Dartmouth-Hitchcock, Elliot Health System, and Frisbie Memorial Hospital are entering into a joint venture with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to form a new company that will improve the quality of healthcare in New Hampshire and reduce costs. The entity, called Benevera Health, will improve healthcare coordination by bringing together clinical, financial, and operational data from … Continued
CMS Extends Funding for Hospital Engagement Networks
On September 25, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded $110 million to 17 national, regional, or state hospital associations and health system organizations to fund a second round of Hospital Engagement Networks (HEN), which will extend through September 2016. The contracts are part of the Partnership for Patients, a nationwide public-private … Continued