The Joint Commission requires healthcare facilities to train employees annually. Part of that training includes best practices for infection control (IC), but effective training requires infection preventionists (IP) to employ training methods based on evidence-based best practices that yield...
Despite sustained attention from hospital leaders, wait times in the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) ED were considerably longer than desired. Knowing that longer wait times means poor patient satisfaction and a higher risk of poor health outcomes, a team of resident physicians...
In 2009, The Joint Commission added Leadership standard LD.03.01.01, ”Leaders create and maintain a culture of safety and quality throughout the hospital,” to recognize that behavior that intimidates others and affects staff morale and turnover can also be damaging to patient care, and to...
The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently endorsed two outcomes-based measures from the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP). The measures, surgical site infections (SSI) and urinary tract infections (UTI), were created in partnership with CMS...
Years ago, when I wanted information on certain patient safety subjects, I might have gone to multiple sources—the Internet (of course), a colleague within my network, and maybe even a book.
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 23, Issue 4
In 2009, The Joint Commission added Leadership standard LD.03.01.01, ”Leaders create and maintain a culture of safety and quality throughout the hospital,” to recognize that behavior that intimidates others and affects staff morale and turnover can also be damaging to patient care, and to...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 23, Issue 4
By now, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) is well known to the healthcare community. Hospital staff and physicians have long been practicing a strict standard of patient privacy.
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 23, Issue 4
Recently in this space, we talked about CMS’ changing stance on the so-called ”30-minute rule.” To follow up, we thought it was time to take a look at the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) and its recently developed Acute Care Guidelines for Timely Administration of...