Hospital EDs are extremely busy during the summer months because of accidents and injuries. While there’s no word yet on whether 2017 will break a heat record (though we hope not), you can expect it to bring a familiar brand of dangerous situations. But are you prepared for them?
In the TV show Mr. Robot, there’s a scene where the main character hacks his hospital’s computer system to change his drug test results from positive to negative. Naturally, doing such a thing in real life isn’t as easy as the show makes it out to be. But it does touch upon a real...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 28, Issue 8
The Joint Commission unveiled a new Medication Compounding Certification (MCC) program in January with the goal of reducing the harm stemming from drug compounding and ensuring compliance with U.S. Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) and Joint Commission standards. Meanwhile, USP Chapter <800>...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 28, Issue 8
Many were shocked by The Joint Commission’s newest standards and elements of performance (EP) on medical device maintenance. The accreditor will no longer distinguish between “high-risk” and “non-high-risk” equipment when surveying maintenance and inspection compliance. Instead, facilities are...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 28, Issue 8
Can you take a punch? How do you react to being backed into a corner and screamed at? Can you keep a level head when someone spits at, grabs, slaps, or pushes you? Have you been held at knifepoint before?
If a job interviewer asked you these questions, you’d probably bolt for the door...
On June 2, CMS issued a new memo to surveyors on the importance of reducing cases of Legionella infections. Not long after, the CDC issued a Vital Signs report underlining the bacterium’s risk to patients. First discovered in the 1970s, the Legionella bacterium can cause a type of...
Last year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a report warning that mobile medical carts have been overheating, igniting, smoking, burning, or exploding. This July, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) responded by convening a group of experts to...
The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) ban on powdered medical gloves went into effect on January 18. It’s now forbidden to use, advertise, and market powdered surgeon's gloves, patient...
