New HHS Data Show Quality Improvements
The Department of Health and Human Services announced that new preliminary data show an overall nine percent decrease in hospital acquired conditions nationally during 2011 and 2012. National reductions in adverse drug events, falls, infections, and other forms of hospital-induced harm are estimated to have prevented nearly 15,000 deaths in hospitals, avoided 560,000 patient injuries, and approximately $4 billion in health spending over the same period.
Standardization of Color-Coded Alerts: Time for a National Effort
In 2005, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System received a report of a near miss that brought up a new issue in the nursing field. It involved a nurse who worked in two hospital facilities; one facility used yellow wristbands for limb restrictions (do not use this limb) and the other facility used them to indicate DNR (do not resuscitate). This nurse had a patient with arm restrictions. So, well-intentioned, she placed a yellow wristband on the patient’s arm.
CPS Shows Commitment to Improving Patient Safety and Quality in Pre-Hospital Care
The Center for Patient Safety (CPS) has landed its first national contract from Air Evac Lifeteam, a subsidiary of Air Medical Group Holdings, announced Becky Miller, executive director, CPS. Air Evac Lifeteam, an air ambulance company, currently has 115 bases in 15 states. The three-year participation agreement was executed on April 1, 2014.
Medical Devices: Who Needs to Read Device Instructions?
Essentially all medical devices used in hospitals come with a user instruction manual, commonly called Instructions for Use (IFU) or Directions for Use. Typically an IFU includes basic operational “how to” information as well as pages of warnings, cautions, and other general or device-specific information beyond simply how to operate the device.
Curing the Ills of Hospital Design
Improving healthcare can start by curing hospitals themselves: The construction of the new Mercy Hospital Joplin comes amid a revolution in thinking about how buildings themselves can improve medicine.
Health IT, Care Coordination, Drug Shortages Lead 2014 List of Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns
Patient safety is a top priority for every healthcare organization, but knowing where to direct initiatives can be daunting. To help organizations decide where to focus their efforts, ECRI Institute has compiled its first annual list of the Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations.
Cloud-Based Imaging and Report Exchange Coordinates Patient Care
Nuance PowerShareTM Network, the industry’s largest cloud-based network for securely connecting physicians, patients, government agencies, specialty medical societies, and others to share essential medical images and reports is now available from Nuance Communications, Inc.
Record Hand Hygiene Observations More Efficiently
Failure to perform proper hand hygiene is one of the leading preventable causes of healthcare-associated infections. iScrub is an iPhone/iPod Touch application from The Computational Epidemiology Group at the University of Iowa.
Awarepoint Humidity-Sensing Tag Now Available
The Awarepoint Humidity Tag monitors ambient room moisture in critical areas, eliminating manual logging, immediately notifying personnel of irregularities, and increasing compliance with issue resolution documentation.
Longer Nurse Tenure on Hospital Units Leads to Higher Quality Care
When it comes to the cost and quality of hospital care, nurse tenure and teamwork matters. Patients get the best care when they are treated in units that are staffed by nurses who have extensive experience in their current job, according to a study from researchers at Columbia University School of Nursing and Columbia Business School.