In 2007, The Joint Commission made an addition to Goal #8 regarding medication reconciliation: Along with compiling a list of medications upon admission, each patient must receive a list of his or her medications upon discharge. (This National Patient Safety Goal is set to be revamped this year...
Q: How should our organization meet compliance with educating patients and their families on multidrug-¬resistant organisms (MDRO), central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), and surgical site infections (SSI)? Should we discuss these topics with all patients and...
The National Quality Forum (NQF) released a set of 70 measures in January that guide the standardization of electronic data for quality improvement. The measures combine data from two or more electronic ¬sources, such as administrative claims or pharmacy systems.
Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from the HCPro book Effective Process Management: Improving Your Healthcare Delivery, written by Kenneth R. Rohde, senior consultant at The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, Inc., in Marblehead, MA.
In October 2008, staff members at Riverside Methodist Hospital (RMH) in Columbus, OH, approached Sheryl Tripp, MSN, RN-BC, nurse manager for the gynecology/gynecology-oncology (gyn/gyn-onc) surgical unit, in hopes of changing the way nurses were issuing patient reports.
Sentara Williamsburg (VA) Regional Medical Center (SWRMC) marked five years without a case of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in February 2009 and is hoping to report six years this month.
Hospitals need to realize that the healthcare industry is forever linked with the macroeconomics of the ¬United States, IHI president and CEO Donald M. Berwick, MD, told attendees at the group’s annual conference.
When a new patient enters a hospital, staff membersgenerally follow the same routine. The admitting nurse asks the patient’s name, date of birth, symptoms, and any allergies to any medications. From this information, a medical record is created and the patient may be admitted and is taken to a...
When a patient visits his or her doctor, a certain level of trust is inherent in the interaction. Just as a consumer might expect an auto mechanic to diagnose the cause of an engine that stalls, or a stockbroker to surmise why certain stocks have been outperforming others, a patient trusts his...
