Patient Safety Monitor Blog

Joint Commission issues Sentinel Event Alert on medical device alarm safety

kgravel — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:00:13 +0000

The Joint Commission issued a Sentinel Event Alert on April 8 warning hospitals against alarm fatigue caused by medical devices. According to the alert, thousands of alarm signals occur in each hospital unit, each day, and an estimated 85% – 99% of the signals do not require clinical intervention. Clinicians consequently become overwhelmed, as well [...]

Connecticut hospitals looking to the aviation industry for safety help

James Carroll — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:38:19 +0000

Hospitals in Connecticut—from Bridgeport to Greenwich and beyond—have looked toward the aviation industry and other high-risk professions to help them operate more smoothly and safely, according to the CT Post. St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn., serves as an example of this unorthodox idea, having hired Joe Brown, an airline pilot for more than 20 [...]

Lethal germ affecting short-stay hospitals, long-term care facilities

James Carroll — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 15:48:49 +0000

A lethal germ found in short-stay hospitals and long-term care facilities called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) has been overpowering antibiotics and could possibly be the beginning of the end of antibiotics, according to the CDC. CRE affects people who are in or who recently had inpatient medical care, and when someone gets a serious infection from it, [...]

Patient safety staff training tips

James Carroll — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:26:49 +0000

Test staff knowledge on The Joint Commission’s medication management standards with the following questions. True or false: A hospital may use some discretion when developing its list of sound-alike/look-alike medications used by the facility. True or false: Once a hospital has developed its list of sound-alike/look-alike drugs, the list should be reviewed every three years along with [...]

To reduce medical errors, make them public

James Carroll — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:17:27 +0000

At least 4,000 times a year in the United States, surgeons perform an incorrect procedure, leave a sponge or instrument inside a patient, or operate on a wrong body part or wrong patient, according to a study from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. These so-called “never events” probably occur even more [...]

Reductions seen in healthcare-associated infections in hospitals

James Carroll — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:55:35 +0000

Hospitals throughout the country are making progress in the fight against central line-associated bloodstream infections and some surgical site infections, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In the report, the CDC looked at data submitted to the National Healthcare Safety Network, its premier infection tracking system. The network receives [...]

AMA issues five patient safety guidelines

James Carroll — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:33:17 +0000

The American Medical Association issued a report that outlines the five key responsibilities that physicians should adopt when providing care for patients recently discharged from the hospital. The guidelines were developed to improve safety and reduce readmissions, according to the AMA. The five guidelines are as follows: Assessment of the patient’s health; Goal-setting to determine desired outcomes; Supporting [...]

Obama urged to mandate medical error reporting

James Carroll — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:24:21 +0000

President Obama is being urged by a former U.S. Treasury secretary to act upon the growing problem of medical errors according to InformationWeek. Paul O’Neill, who is now the chairman and CEO of Alcoa, wants the president to take the mandate that he applied to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Military Health Systems and [...]

Proposed 2014 National Patient Safety Goal on alarm management

James Carroll — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:49:28 +0000

On January 15, the Joint Commission issued a proposed National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) on management of alarms. Alarms are intended to avert caregivers of potential patient problems, but if they are not properly managed, they can compromise patient safety, and there is a general agreement that this is an important safety issue, according to [...]

Patient population impacts quality measures more than available resources

kgravel — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:41:04 +0000

The presence of chronic conditions and the severity of illnesses among a patient population are the strongest predictors of pediatric quality indicator (PDI) events, not the hospital’s resources, according to new research published in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers analyzed all non-newborn pediatric hospital discharge records to determine patterns of PDI events within and across several [...]