New AACN Practice Alert Aims to Improve Patient Safety, Minimize Alarm Fatigue
Clinical alarms designed to alert nurses to changes in their patients’ conditions have become a continual barrage of noise that poses a significant threat to patient safety, according to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). A new AACN Practice Alert outlines evidence-based protocols to reduce false or non-actionable alarms and improve the effective use of these monitoring aids.
PCORI, NIA Partner on Developing Study of Prevention of Falls Injuries in Older Adults
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has announced an agreement with the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to form a partnership to fund a major intervention study aimed at preventing injuries from falls in older adults.
From the Bedside to the Boardroom: Partnering with Patients and Families in the Healthcare Environment
Imagine a setting where patients and families feel confident and comfortable asking questions, providing valuable historical information, and discussing their health priorities in open dialogue with their providers. How many adverse medical events could be avoided? How many duplicated tests could be eliminated?
PCORI Launches “Engagement Awards” Program to Advance Patient-Centered Outcomes Research
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has launched a funding initiative designed to grow a national community of patients, clinicians, researchers, and other healthcare stakeholders who will advance patient-centered outcomes research.
ECRI Institute Names Top 10 Health IT Success Strategies to Manage Risks
In honor of Healthcare Risk Management Week, ECRI Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, will provide access to “Risk Managers’ 10 Strategies for Health IT Success,” from the June 2013 Risk Management Reporter newsletter.
Irisys Technology Aims to Enhance Hand-Hygiene Compliance by Improving Monitoring Process
Infrared technology could be a key strategy to improving healthcare workers’ hand-hygiene compliance – and a high-tech weapon in helping to reduce the spread of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), according to the results of a trial in a U.K.-based general medical unit.
OpenNotes Program Expands Access to Personal Health Information
I know I’m spoiled about access to personal health information. I get most of my medical care through Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston, which offers PatientSite, a patient portal where I’ve been able to see my laboratory and imaging results, correspond with my doctor by email, manage my medications, request appointments, and so on for many years. (Developers and physicians Danny Sands and John Halamka describe the PatientSite project in a book chapter available online from the Commonwealth Fund.)
LiveData OR-Dashboard, KARL STORZ OR1 Deployed In New Operating Rooms at Miami VA Healthcare System
LiveData, Inc. has announced that the company’s OR-Dashboard has been installed into a new integrated OR system at the Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare Facility in Miami, providing the cornerstone for advances in both workflow efficiency and patient safety. KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc., led the technology installation, which includes the KARL STORZ OR1® integration platform, and LiveData OR-Dashboard with Active Time Out.
Achieving the Potential of Healthcare Performance Measures
This report provides an overview of performance measurement in U.S. health care, and includes policy recommendations aimed at improving the performance measurement enterprise.
Specifically, they recommend how to develop better measures; when and how to use measures; and how to ensure the validity and comparability of publicly-reported performance measure data.
Quality Improvement Educational Initiative Proves to be a Model Program for Surgical Residents
Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, have developed a novel graduate medical education initiative that enables surgical residents to hone their skills in quality improvement (QI). Surgical trainees who completed the year-long educational program found the QI training to be beneficial, and more importantly, believe it put them in a position to lead QI initiatives in the future. The report appears in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.