Industry News
New Tools for Enhancing Patient Safety When Caring for Patients with Limited English Proficiency
On Oct 12, 2012 | CommentsThe Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recently released new tools for enhancing patient safety in the care of patients with limited English proficiency (LEP). Read More→
AHRQ Offers Toolkit to Strengthen Medication Reconciliation
On Oct 11, 2012 | CommentsMedication reconciliation—the act of maintaining, documenting, and being able to communicate accurate medication information for patients—is one of the National Patient Safety Goals outlined by The Joint Commission.
Now, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is offering a free toolkit to help acute care and post-acute care facilities evaluate and improve their current medication reconciliation process. The toolkit, Medications at Transitions and Clinical Handoffs (MATCH) Toolkit for Medication Reconciliation, can help facilities reduce patient harm due to adverse drug events or medication errors.
This toolkit is based on the Medications at Transitions and Clinical Handoffs (MATCH) Web site. It provides a framework to capture complete, accurate medication information through electronic health records (EHRs) and enables the development of a medication reconciliation process or the redesign an existing process.
For more information, visit the website, or contact AHRQ via e-mail AHRQpubs@ahrq.hhs.gov or by phone at 1-800-358-9295.
Safety Specialists: A Career Path for Nurses
On Aug 24, 2012 | Comments
A recent post on a health care job website looked at patient safety as a career path for experienced nurses. The article quoted one patient safety specialist as noting that, “The unique element of this role is the relationship across disciplines.”
That’s a key point: That while many experienced nurses transition to patient safety manager or director roles, patient safety touches every area of health care. While a nursing background is certainly helpful, health professionals from other disciplines may also move into a role with a primary focus on patient safety.
The article noted that certification is now available for patient safety professionals.
What’s been your path to patient safety? Tell us via the comment box below or write to us at info@npsf.org.
Nearly One in Three Americans Report Experiencing Medical Mistakes
On Aug 21, 2012 | CommentsWolters Kluwer Health Survey Shows High Consumer Confidence that Technology Adoption Will Reduce Medical Errors
Read the summary story online.
Building a Better CPOE System Via MEDMARX Data
On Aug 15, 2012 | Comments
Pharmacy Practice News
August 2012 | Volume 30
A research project, funded by a National Patient Safety Foundation Research Grant, sheds new light on the types of errors that can occur with computerized physician order entry. This article summarizes finding of Gordon Schiff, MD, principal investigator.
Read the article from Pharmacy Practice News.
Many Test Results Left Unread as Patients Leave the Hospital
On Aug 14, 2012 | Comments
Health Day
A new study from the Center for Health Informatics at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation at the University of New South Wales finds that many test results ordered for patients in the hospital go unread by their physicians. Read a summary article from Health Day.
The Final Check: Reducing Mislabeled Specimens
On Jul 10, 2012 | CommentsSimple initiative shown to reduce mislabeled blood specimens by 90 percent
The College of American Pathologists estimates that 1 in 1,000 blood specimens ends up being labeled with the wrong patient identifiers. That type of error can potentially harm two patients—the patient whose blood was mislabeled as well as the patient who was incorrectly linked to that specimen. Both patients may end up with incorrect diagnoses, missed treatment, or treatment that they do not need.
Now, a collaboration between Palmetto Health Richland Hospital, the South Carolina Hospital Association, and Outcome Engenuity, LLC, has resulted in a simple intervention that hospitals can use to dramatically reduce the rate of mislabeled blood specimens. Called The Final Check, the intervention was used for the first time at Palmetto Health in 2011, resulting in a 90 percent decrease in mislabeled specimens in the first month it was used. Those results have since been validated at five other hospitals in South Carolina and sustained for five consecutive months to date. Read More→
A Culture of Respect
On Jul 10, 2012 | CommentsIn a two-part series published in Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, Lucian Leape, MD, and co-authors describe six categories of disruptive behavior in health care and how such behavior can impact patient and worker safety.
Healthy Doses of Respect in Medicine
On Jun 18, 2012 | CommentsIn an interview with the Boston Globe, Lucian Leape, MD, talks about respectful behaviors and how culture impacts patient safety. Read the full interview on the Boston Globe website.
Reporting Patient Safety Events Challenge Announced
On May 15, 2012 | CommentsThe Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) recently launched the Reporting Patient Safety Events Challenge, designed to spur development of platform-agnostic health IT tools to facilitate the reporting of medical errors in hospital and outpatient settings. This developer contest is part of ONC’s Investing in Innovation (i2) Initiative, which holds competitions to accelerate development and adoption of technology solutions that enhance quality and outcomes.
