The Joint Commission has revised several of its requirements for National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 7, which focuses on the issue of healthcare-associated infections (HAI). The revisions go into effect on January 1, 2018, and apply to hospitals, critical access hospitals (CAH), and nursing care...
Hundreds of people in U.S. hospitals have been sickened by exposure to deadly bacteria on poorly disinfected, but routinely used diagnostic scopes. Additionally, several hospitals have been hit by major fines and loss of accreditation for failure to adhere to strict regulations requiring...
On June 2, CMS issued a new memo to surveyors on the importance of reducing cases of Legionella infections. Accredited facilities should double check their waterborne pathogens compliance, as surveyors will likely pay more attention to it in upcoming surveys.
For the second time in three years, The Joint Commission has released a Quick Safety issue on the topic of improperly sterilized or high-level disinfection (HLD) equipment and devices. The accreditor writes that despite bringing the problem to light in 2014, there’s an increase in cases of...
Hospitals face many challenges in regard to active shooter risk such as providing care to victims of shootings and being prepared in the event a shooting situation occurs at the hospital. In times of crisis, it is imperative that proper protocol is followed to minimize risk to workers and...
The U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are considering both the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2017 and the Medicare Telehealth Parity Act (MTPA). The two bills are aimed at lowering CMS restrictions on telemedicine...
As of Monday, May 15, more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries were hit by a ransomware virus called “Wanna Cry.” One of the most notable victims of Wanna Cry was the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS). At least 25 NHS hospitals had to reroute patients and cancel appointments...
In late April, Ann Scott Blouin, RN, PhD, FACHE, executive vice president of The Joint Commission, wrote a blog post detailing the need for a practical approach to healthcare’s endemic workplace violence (WPV) problem. In her post, Blouin explains three methods of violence prevention in...
How much of a role can emergency departments (ED) play in preventing suicide attempts? The world’s largest study of 1,376 suicidal patients gave the answer.
By implementing interventions at the ED, hospitals were able to lower the of risk patients attempting suicide again by 20% compared...
Join expert speakers Janiece Gray, MHA, BSW, CPXP, and Gretchen Leiterman, MBA, as they explain how to develop an internal approach to improve organizational service culture. Through their in-...
