A patient handoff (also known as transitioning) is both the act of passing a patient between caregivers and the information exchanged between the sender (the provider giving away the patient) and the receiver (the provider taking the patient).
Editor’s note: This article was written by Janet Spiegel, MS, a Lean-certified management consultant in Portland, Maine, who has advised and coached several payer and provider organizations. For questions or comments, she can be contacted at ...
Controversy flared this fall in Salt Lake City after police body camera footage of the July 26 arrest of University Hospital nurse Alex Wubbels went viral. Wubbels had refused a police request to draw blood from a patient, citing hospital policy. Salt Lake City police detective Jeff Payne...
Every facility wants to give the best possible care to every patient who walks through its doors, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. But wanting to help people isn't the same as helping them or knowing what they need.
In 2016, 4.1% of the U.S. population identified as...
Review how clinicians and other staff interact with patients who have communication issues, such as deafness or limited English proficiency (LEP). Not only are communication issues receiving increased scrutiny from patients and the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), but your hospital could lose...
Want to save your bosses some money and improve patient safety? Improve your blood transfusion practices. A study published in the August 2017 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety found that by eliminating unnecessary red blood cell (RBC) transfusions,...
While the deadline to meet CMS's new emergency preparedness Conditions of Participation (CoP) is November 15, hurricanes this August and September have shown why these rules are needed in the first place.
In a mere six days, Hurricane Harvey dropped 27 trillion gallons...
Maternal mortality is a measure of how many mothers die from pregnancy-related complications while carrying or within 42 days after birth. And in most of the developed world, this number has fallen to historic lows.
But not in the U.S., where the maternal mortality rate (MMR) has grown 2....
Want to improve your infection control? Consider your hospital floors.
A study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) found that hospital room floors may be an overlooked source of infection.
At a Roaring 20s party this summer, I saw a flapper in a sparkly dress dance with her service dog, a husky in a red vest. The woman was having a great time, though the dog seemed confused by the whole situation.
While it was funny to watch then, what if the next day she and her service...
