Most clinicians understand the dangers multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) present to patients. Most also understand that these germs are easily spread through hands and other surfaces, and that hand washing is a proven method for preventing MDROs from spreading. Yet—as many patient safety...
In patient safety and quality, there is no shortage of data and information that needs to be gathered from an inpatient stay. Data are collected for compliance with federal quality-of-care measures, federal and state patient safety indicator and event tracking, accreditation, professional...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 21, Issue 11
Several major issues have been addressed or streamlined headed into 2011, The Joint Commission stated during its recent Executive Briefings session in New York City. Many of these changes are intended to put an end to ongoing problematic standards, end several-year-long debates, and clarify...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 21, Issue 11
Has your facility considered going restraint free? Have you succeeded? According to the most recent benchmarking survey conducted by the Association for Healthcare Accreditation Professionals (AHAP), a large percentage of hospitals have at least explored the option of going restraint free,...
Lean works for healthcare. It has simple concepts to learn and teach. However, Lean projects are far from easy to undertake. Accomplishing Lean requires hard work, and it is tiring. The “easy” part of Lean is the basic philosophy, which is clear and concise and something on which staff members...
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...
True or false: The safety officer has the authority to take immediate action if he/she feels that there is a safety concern that poses an immediate threat to patients, employees, or visitors.
The Joint Commission’s Center for Transforming Healthcare (CTH) has announced the second in its series of solutions for top healthcare challenges: hand-off communication.
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).
