On December 14, 2011, The Joint Commission released a Sentinel Event Alert warning hospitals of the link between healthcare worker fatigue and adverse events. "We understand that fatigue has been a contributing factor in many adverse...
Privacy curtains are a seemingly innocuous part of a patient room compared with the various other high-touch surfaces that are the focus of environmental cleaning.
Editor's note: Columnist Catherine Hinz, MHA, currently works at PatientSafe Solutions, Inc. Previously, she served as the patient lead at HealthEast Care System in St. Paul, MN, worked for seven years as an ED health unit coordinator, and has completed a patient safety...
On November 14, 2011, The Joint Commission proposed a new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG). NPSG.16.01.01 would minimize the overuse of tests, treatments, and procedures in order to reduce the risk of patient harm.
As the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, medical errors just don't seem to be going away. Many healthcare professionals agree that reporting such errors is the only way to learn from them and prevent them in the future. But although most medical centers have systems in place...
Value-based purchasing (VBP) has long been on the minds of many healthcare professionals. Slowly but surely, VBP has embedded itself in healthcare, including, of course, Medicare reimbursement.
Most hospitals have created some sort of campaign to raise levels of hand hygiene compliance-from creating signs and uploading sing-along viral videos to deploying "secret shoppers" around the nation to sneakily observe who may or may not be washing their hands.
