Editor's note: Columnist Catherine Hinz, MHA, works as a leader in patient safety at HealthEast Care System in St. Paul, Minn. Previously, she worked at PatientSafe Solutions, Inc., and has completed a patient safety internship with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality...
In today's world of healthcare, hospitals have to measure nearly everything related to quality and patient safety. There are lots of metrics, many tied to reimbursement. Some are very specific, and some are reported to multiple outside agencies. There is no doubt that hospitals...
High-touch surface areas remain a constant concern for infection preventionists (IP). Regular and terminal cleaning can only be done so many times a day, and surfaces like bed rails, doorknobs, and call buttons are constantly harboring infectious organisms.
Many hospitals across the nation are already working with health IT, including electronic health records (EHR) and bar code scanning-especially as CMS' Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs (commonly referred to as "meaningful use") promise to provide incentive payments to eligible...
Many hospitals struggle with readmissions, and sometimes a readmission might be out of the control of the hospital. Still, when Jan Williams, RN, BSN, program director for the Health Enhancement Program (HEP) at Mary Lanning Memorial Healthcare (MLMH) in Hastings, Neb., and the...
The best way to mass vaccinate the general public during flu season is to make flu shots as accessible as possible, and access doesn't get any easier then rolling down your window and rolling up your sleeve.
Patient safety has long stood on a variety of tenets, some of which have formed the process and basis for how professionals (both leaders and clinicians) conduct improvement work. Some of these are well-known and accepted: Patient safety is a right. A high level of patient safety performance...
