Industry News
Patient Safety Is Everyone’s Work
On Apr 17, 2012 | CommentsPatient Safety & Quality Healthcare | March/April 2012
NPSF President Diane C. Pinakiewicz, MBA, was recently interviewed by Susan Carr, editor of PSQH, to discuss NPSF activities, board certification in patient safety, patient engagement, and other topics relative to the state of patient safety. Read the full interview on the PSQH website or download a PDF version.
A Patient Survival Guide, from a Mother who Learned Too Late
On Mar 08, 2012 | CommentsConnecticut Mirror
This article highlights the work of Helen Haskell, founder of Mothers Against Medical Error. She spoke at St. Francis Hospital in Connecticut as part of Patient Safety Awareness Week 2012 recognition, with advice and guidelines for patients. Read the full article>>
New SAFE CARE program to provide patient education at bedside and while receiving care
On Mar 07, 2012 | CommentsFrom the The Joint Commission
Encouraging patients and their families to take an active role in their health care by becoming involved and informed is critical. In celebration of Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 4-10, a unique patient safety education program will be released to provide patients and their families with instant access to current patient safety videos at their bedside and while receiving care. The 2012 SAFE CARE Patient Safety Education Program is a free offering developed to assist health care organizations in educating patients to help prevent medical errors. Read the full text article >>.
Reducing Surgical Site Infections
On Feb 24, 2012 | CommentsLast month, a cross-functional team of infection prevention experts released “Educate, Empower, Engage: A Collaborative Interdisciplinary Call-to-Action for Reducing Surgical Site Infections.” This white paper, the result of last fall’s Infection Prevention Leadership Summit, outlines potential solutions for preventing surgical site infections (SSIs) at health care facilities. Read More→
Experts Question Medicare Effort to Rate Hospitals Patient Safety Records
On Feb 13, 2012 | CommentsFrom Kaiser Health News
Medicare’s first public effort to identify hospitals with patient safety problems has pinpointed many prestigious teaching institutions around the nation, raising concerns about quality at these places but also bolstering objections that the government’s measurements are skewed. Read the full text article >>.
Patient-Centered Care Model Demands Better Physician-Patient Communication
On Feb 03, 2012 | CommentsFrom Journal of the American Medical Association
Physicians need excellent communication skills and appropriate tools for facilitating communication to more effectively incorporate patient preferences into care. Read the extract>>
Report Finds Most Errors at Hospitals Go Unreported
On Jan 06, 2012 | CommentsThe New York Times, January 6, 2012.
WASHINGTON — Hospital employees recognize and report only one out of seven errors, accidents and other events that harm Medicare patients while they are hospitalized, federal investigators say in a new report.
Yet even after hospitals investigate preventable injuries and infections that have been reported, they rarely change their practices to prevent repetition of the “adverse events,” according to the study, from Daniel R. Levinson, inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Click to read the full article.
Medical tests are pointless when results don’t reach the doctor or patient
On Nov 28, 2011 | CommentsThe Washington Post, November 28, 2011
“Health reform and payment reform are moving us toward integrating care to a degree that we don’t do right now,” says Diane Pinakiewicz, president of the National Patient Safety Foundation , a Boston-based consumer group. More…
Doctors Could Learn Something about Medical Handoffs from the Navy
On Apr 18, 2011 | CommentsLos Angeles Times, April 18, 2011
Medical handoffs—a change of care from one doctor to another—create a high potential for miscommunication and error which can be harmful, even deadly. For techniques to improve these handoffs and keep patients safer, physicians may have to look outside of the healthcare field. Read More→
Health Care’s Infectious Losses
On Jul 06, 2009 | CommentsNew York Times Op-Ed | July 6, 2009
By Paul O’Neill
Secretary of the Treasury 2001-02, Former Chairman and CEO of Alcoa, LLI Member
With a few small steps, we would no longer have the suffering and death associated with infections acquired in hospitals and we would save tens of billions of dollars every year.
