I was recently out to a business lunch and had an amazing server who clearly delighted in the work she was doing. When a colleague complimented her service excellence, she replied, "I think of each table as a new experience." She went on to describe her good fortune to work in an environment...
Q During a tornado watch or warning, should we move ICU patients to an interior hallway? If so, what additional resources are required (e.g., staff, portable equipment, emergency power outlets)? If we are not able to move these patients, what steps should we take?
Many hospitals have implemented electronic medical records (EMR) or are currently doing so, and the federal government provides incentives for using this technology in a meaningful way. EMRs are a big step up, after all: Instead of a paper chart that needs to be tracked down,...
The Joint Commission released a new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) on May 17. The new goal, NPSG.07.06.01, addresses the need to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). It's similar to previous NPSGs on infection control.
The May issue of The Joint Commission Perspectives contained the top 10 standards compliance issues for hospitals in 2010. Ranking eighth, with 31% of hospitals receiving a requirement for improvement (RFI), is provision of care standard PC.01.02.03, which requires assessment and...
The following is an excerpt from Occurrence Reporting: Building a Robust Problem Identification and Resolution Process, by Kenneth R. Rohde, senior consultant for The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, Inc., in Danvers, MA. Visit...
A look at the patient safety literature as well as recent popular media leaves no doubt that what is currently coined "disruptive provider behavior" is detrimental to the delivery of safe patient care. There have been numerous case studies, culture surveys, articles, and even peer-reviewed...
The National Quality Forum (NQF) released a list of approved serious reportable events (SRE) in June. The list includes 25 updated events and four new events.
Missed diagnoses in the ED are often considered to be unfortunate errors on the physician's part-the symptoms just weren't obvious or clear enough and the underlying cause was simply missed. However, a new review of malpractice data from EDs suggests that poor communication...
