Prevention of adverse events is a part of working in a hospital environment, and when an event does occur, how those events are dealt with can truly have an effect on patient safety. Because nurses make up one of the largest contingents of staff members, they are often involved in a near miss or...
I’ve had a unique opportunity to reflect on the complex system in which we deliver care. The complexities of the broader U.S. healthcare system and intricacies of individual facilities make eliminating medical errors and adverse events an extraordinary challenge. Fortunately, I have retained...
In every workplace, no matter the field, there is likely to be certain conflicts between employees and at least one employee who exhibits disrespectful or disruptive behavior. Healthcare is no exception—except bad behavior in healthcare puts patients’ lives at stake.
After The Joint Commission released its National Patient Safety Goal concerning handoff communication in 2005, staff at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (Children’s) spent plenty of time and effort convincing staff that the issue was an important one. As a result, the hospital standardized its...
Nursing documentation is an oft-overcomplicated process. Although many Joint Commission standards require documentation, hospitals tend to write policies with which they cannot comply.
Prior to 2005, the catheterization lab at Mercy Des Moines (IA)–Mercy Heart Hospital (MDM) had a team responsible for manual inventory of 2,200 medical items per day. This task was not only time-consuming, but it also put patients at high risk of coming in contact with an expired medical item...
I was always certain that my career in patient safety would be in the delivery sector, in health systems, hospitals, or clinics—settings in which clinicians and patients interact. Based on time spent as a frontline staff member and later as a leader in patient safety, I was sure that this was...
A new report released by The Leapfrog Group shows that computer physician order entry (CPOE) systems can potentially miss half of routine medication orders and one-third of potentially fatal medication orders.
The report is based on a study of 214 hospitals that tested their CPOE...
