Editor’s note: The following column answers some data-related questions on “Patient Safety Talk,” an HCPro listserv that addresses many of the topics covered in this newsletter and is available to subscribers on the Patient Safety Monitor website. This month’s questions are...
Except for some minor changes, The Joint Commission has announced that there will be no other updates to the 2011 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG).
On July 7, staff members in the pediatric ICU (PICU) at Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York (CCMC) celebrated one full year free of central line infections.
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...
