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In the News
July 29, 2016
In the early part of the 20th century, nurses paired a rocking chair with roller skates to make a wheelchair, or used hot corncobs as bed warmers. Nurses, doctors and others in the health care industry are embracing the "maker movement," which encourages inventive solutions when traditional ones don't cut it.
July 19, 2016
With a focus on rehabilitation hospitals, the July 2016 OIG report finds that nearly 29 percent of Medicare beneficiaries experienced at least one AE or temporary harm during their rehab stay. Further, the report found that, of a nationally representative sample of patients discharged from rehab hospitals in March 2012, nearly a quarter of those harmed had to be transferred to an acute care hospital for treatment.
June 30, 2016
It costs Chicago-based University of Illinois Hospital $3,000 per day to care for patients who frequently visit the emergency room. But through a new pilot program, the hospital has whittled that cost down to approximately $33 per day
June 27, 2016
Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality has compiled a list of 100 patient safety benchmarks from CMS, TJC and various sources for hospital comparison.
June 24, 2016
Medical errors now rank as the third leading cause of death in the United States, according to a recent study by Johns Hopkins Medicine. Anatomy of Medical Errors: The Patient in Room 2 is one nurse's personal story of survival and fact-finding as a victim of preventable medical errors. As this mesmerizing story recounts the author's struggles, it teaches nurses and other healthcare providers how to avoid potentially dangerous situations, recognize warning signs, and work collaboratively to provide transparent patient care.
June 15, 2016
How can health care organizations sustain improvements in safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of patient care? According to the new IHI White Paper, Sustaining Improvement, the key is to focus on the daily work of frontline managers, supported by a high-performance management system that prescribes standard tasks and responsibilities for managers at all levels of the organization. The new white paper includes four tips for getting started with standard work for managers and cases from leading health care organizations.
June 13, 2016
A new op-ed co-authored by IHI President Emeritus Don Berwick celebrates the 50th anniversary of the late Avedis Donabedian’s seminal article in The Milbank Quarterly
June 10, 2016
A study of salary and compensation among leaders in nursing found high job satisfaction in the field and wide range in salaries, with most reaching the highest pay after about 10 years in the career.
June 7, 2016
Recently published research from CALNOC in the journal Nursing Management.
ABSTRACT: Changes in the health care environment are expanding the role of nursing in ambulatory care settings. This article presents the current status of a collaboration to develop and implement nursing sensitive indicators to measure the value of nursing in ambulatory care.
June 6, 2016
NPUAP Press Release from April 13, 2016, describing the change in terminology and staging.
May 20, 2016
Five years ago, when residents of Bithlo, Fla. got sick, they had to drive or take an ambulance to a hospital 15 miles away in Orlando. There was no doctor’s office or urgent care facility in their town of 8,200.
So it is no surprise that a new Federally Qualified Health Center in Bithlo received more than 4,000 visits in its first year. In a recent year, residents had taken about the same number of trips to emergency rooms.
Learn how a local collaboration between public and private partners in Bithlo, FL is focusing on nine areas to advance overall wellness.
May 13, 2016
A JAMA viewpoint that clarifies the use of the HCAHPS survey of patient care from hospital staff.
May 13, 2016
On Tuesday, January 26, 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) offered a presentation on “The HCAHPS Survey, Pain Management, and Opioid Misuse: The CMS Perspective.” The presentation provides a review of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) Survey methodology and addresses stakeholder concerns about pain management and misuse of prescription opioids.
May 11, 2016
CALNOC collaborated with AAACN on the Nurse-Sensitive Indicators report that will help nurse leaders measure improvement in safety and quality of care in the outpatient setting. The press release includes a link to download the report.
May 4, 2016
Happy Nurses Week to all the nurses out there! Thanks for all you do!
May 4, 2016
Medical error is not included on death certificates or in rankings of cause of death. Martin Makary and Michael Daniel, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, assess its contribution to mortality and call for better reporting.
Apr 21, 2016
Since 2008, there have been reports that newly-graduated California RNs cannot find work, and thus many are leaving the state for greener pastures. What is happening now? Will health care providers be able to hire all the RNs needed now and in the long term? PowerPoint Slides from the Webinar now available. Webinar recording (Will be released next week).
Apr 5, 2016
President Emeritus and Senior Fellow Don Berwick introduces the concept of “three eras” in health care. Era 1 represents the roots of the medical profession: a beneficent and self-regulating profession. In era 2, which represents much of today’s current health care environment, measurement and “rewards and punishments” tend to dominate. In this article, Berwick presents nine changes he believes, combined, will shape a new era 3 driven by transparency, improvement science, less inspection, and more civility.
Mar 24, 2016
Measurement is key to improvement work, but teams often lack a clear measurement plan to guide them. Boost your improvement team’s measurement effectiveness by following this guidance from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Vice President Bob Lloyd in a new HFMA Leadership article.
Mar 8, 2016
The Mayo Clinic has been successful in reducing LOS by 3 days using light zapping robots to combat C.diff. Check out the video.
Mar 3, 2016
This article provides nursing recommendations to decrease medication delivery errors through strategies to minimize and address interruptions/distractions. CALNOC is cited as the training method for medication administration observation. .
Feb 23, 2016
Researchers in Bangkok recently examined the effectiveness of daily bathing with 2 percent chlorhexidine-impregnated washcloths in preventing multidrug-resistant gram-positive bacterial colonization and bloodstream infection. The results of the study were published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
Feb 18, 2016
A Gordon and Betty Moore initiative shows the potential of front-line RNs to lead sustainable quality improvement efforts.
Jan 26, 2016
The New York Times Opinionator blog post examines ways in which US hospitals are working to improve patient safety including the Hospital Engagement Network initiative and an explanation of the Swiss cheese model.
Jan 13, 2016
A graphic depiction of the habits of successful nurses.
Jan 11, 2016
Eliminating common patient safety problems sounds like a worthwhile goal. Many ambitious organizations talk about “zero tolerance” or “targeting zero.” But when are such efforts misguided? Pat Quigley, Associate Director, the VA Sunshine Healthcare Network (VISN 8) Patient Safety Center of Inquiry, asserts that this has been the case for patient falls.
Jan 4, 2016
Most people feel that the equation to survive your hospitalization predominantly involves the expertise of your surgeon and the disease at hand. In fact, there is a silent factor that contributes to a phenomenon that is increasingly gaining attention in the medical community, administrative leadership, insurance agencies and popular media: Death related to preventable errors.
Dec 30, 2015
Hand hygiene is recognized by infection prevention and control experts as the single most important intervention in decreasing the spread of infection in both healthcare and community settings
Dec 21, 2015
Read the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's (IHI's) Ten Picks from 2015. Discover new stories, revisit your favorites, share them with your colleagues, and use them to help kick-start your improvement efforts in the new year.
Dec 8, 2015
The report notes that much of the work done in patient safety to date addresses hospital care, whereas most care today is provided outside of hospitals. Moreover, while deaths from medical errors make headlines, morbidity — in the form of lasting effects of harm, additional care, or lengthier hospitalizations — also demands attention. The report argues for centralized oversight of patient safety, in part to facilitate sharing best practices and knowledge.
November 24, 2015
A recent study published by the American Journal of Infection Control finds that researchers who conducted semi-structured interviews found unanimous agreement toward the concept of patient empowerment related to improving infection control practices. Despite revelations, researchers concluded that patient engagement remains an underused method of HAIs prevention.
November 24, 2015
St. Joseph Hoag physicians grocery shop with nearly 2k people. The health system hosted six "Shop with Your Doc" events in Southern California throughout mid-October and November during which St. Joseph Hoag Health physicians, nutritionists and weight-management coordinators visited Ralphs grocery stores to help customers purchase items on their grocery list and answer specific dietary questions.
November 19, 2015
The National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP) is proud to announce that World Wide Pressure Ulcer Prevention Day is to be celebrated on November 19, 2015. The objective of World Wide Pressure Ulcer Prevention Day is to increase national awareness for pressure ulcer prevention and to educate the public on this topic. NPUAP has developed an extensive media materials package appropriate for all healthcare settings and organizations which can be downloaded.
November 17, 2015
"Good enough" is not good enough when it comes to the safety of our patients, our families, our friends, and our communities
November 16, 2015
Glance around the surgical intensive care unit (ICU) and you might see people interacting with a new app. Developed at Johns Hopkins, the app aims to make patients and their families feel more comfortable during an ICU stay.
September 17, 2015
Last week, Miss America hosted its second night of preliminaries in Atlantic City. For the talent competition, most contestants showcased their singing, dancing, and musical talents while donning their sparkly, glittery costumes — but Kelley Johnson walked out on stage in her nurse’s scrubs. Kelley is Miss Colorado, and she decided to forgo the traditional talent routine. Instead, she delivered a unique monologue about her experience as a nurse, and with an elderly Alzheimer’s patient. The results are unexpected, original, and touching.
August 25, 2015
San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare interviewed patients and family members for a hand hygiene video titled "It's OK to Ask." In the video, the patients discuss how they feel about asking clinicians to wash their hands. It implores clinicians to "take time to assure your patients it's OK to ask" and also shows examples of how caregivers can do so.
August 18, 2015
Simple, low-tech practices, such as proactive rounds by nurses and hospital leadership, make a difference, Johns Hopkins study finds
August 13, 2015
This How-to Guide can help staff learn to identify the patients on medical-surgical units who are at the highest risk for sustaining a serious injury from a fall and implement interventions to prevent or mitigate these injuries.
July 31, 2015
More than two-thirds of all Californians who were uninsured before the Affordable Care Act implementation now have coverage, according to a study released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Among the Latino population, the numbers were even more striking. Excluding the undocumented population ineligible for ACA coverage, about 75% of the previously uninsured now have some form of health insurance, the study found.
July 27, 2015
Pulse tells the story of health care through the personal experiences of patients, health professionals, students and caregivers.
July 6, 2015
For hospitals, benchmarking data can be incredibly valuable, as it allows individual institutions to identify areas of excellence and assess opportunities for improvement. This ultimately allows for more efficient operations and better care. Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality has compiled a list of 100 patient safety benchmarks from various sources for hospital comparison.
June 22, 2015
What is the most important attribute of a culture of safety? In a new post on Health Affairs Blog, four heavyweights from the patient safety movement make the case that transparency is a critical tool to advance safety that is too often overlooked.
June 18, 2015
With root cause analysis guidelines, hand hygiene posters, an emergency drill toolkit and a catheter-associated urinary tract infection prevention checklist, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality has providers covered with an array of patient safety tools.
June 14, 2015
Sepsis claims the lives of more people every year than breast cancer, prostate cancer and aids, combined. Every two minutes, someone in the U.S. dies of the deadly condition. If you don't know much about it, you're not alone. Victims and doctors are now speaking out to raise awareness.
June 8, 2015
New findings from University of Michigan researchers in the June Health Affairs confirm enhanced outcomes for patients before and after recognition—to a point.
June 3, 2015
A new device inspired by the human spleen and acting like a dialysis machine can be the answer to treating sepsis.
June 3, 2015
Study in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology finds a statistically significant association between CLABSI status and readmission, suggesting that CLABSI may have adverse health impact that extends beyond hospital discharge.
May 19, 2015
Here are average costs per inpatient day in 2013, organized by hospital ownership type, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to the latest statistics from Kaiser State Health Facts.
May 11, 2015
Florence “Seesee” Rigney began working at Tacoma General Hospital in Washington in 1946 and has just celebrated her 90th birthday and her 70th anniversary as a nurse -- at Tacoma General Hospital no less. “She is the oldest practicing nurse in the United States,” Bill Robertson, president and CEO of MultiCare Health System, said. “Just imagine all the changes SeeSee has seen in her life.”
May 8, 2015
Nurses make up a vital part of the healthcare industry, providing care to patients and filling leadership roles at hospitals, health systems and other organizations. In honor of National Nurses Week, here are 50 statistics, facts and figures regarding these important caregivers.
May 5, 2015
Typically, physician face time during a patient's office visit is measured in minutes. However, accountable care is changing that scenario at Orlando (Fla.) Health, a large integrated delivery system with eight hospitals. At some of its outpatient practices, it's implemented group medical visits, at which 10 to 12 patients with similar conditions get 90-minute discussions with a physician, nurses and other care specialists.
Apr 16, 2015
A concentrated extract of maple syrup makes disease-causing bacteria more susceptible to antibiotics, according to laboratory experiments by researchers at McGill University.
Apr 16, 2015
The Evaluation and Research on Antimicrobial Stewardship's Effect on Clostridium difficile (ERASE C. difficile) Project. Clostridium difficile infection (C. difficile) is a serious public health problem that has recently increased in both incidence and severity. Taking steps to reduce C. difficile is a major health and public health imperative. Antimicrobial stewardship targeted to C. difficile reduction shows promise, because increased rates of C. difficile are associated with inappropriate antibiotic use. An antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) is a systematic approach to developing coordinated interventions to reduce overuse and inappropriate selection of antibiotics, and to achieve optimal outcomes for patients in cost-efficient ways. This toolkit assists hospital staff and leadership in developing an effective ASP with the potential to reduce C. difficile.
Apr 6, 2015
Patient and family engagement as a strategy has become an integral part of many hospitals' and health systems' improvement efforts for quality, safety and patient outcomes, according to a recent AHA report.
Mar 23, 2015
Upon completion of the hearings, the board will have 30 days to submit a written response to all of the issues and recommendations raised by Committee staff in the Background Paper or during the hearing. Certain recommendations may require legislation which would be included in a “Sunset Bill” for a particular board. It is anticipated that the Sunset Bills will be heard by the respective Committees sometime in April.
Mar 16, 2015
A new report finds that rates of Clostridium difficile and some surgical infections are on the rise in California, even though most hospitals in the state report overall low rates of health care-associated infections. Meanwhile, a separate report finds that influenza vaccination rates are up among health care personnel at California hospitals. Los Angeles Daily News et al.
Mar 7, 2015
An increasing number of hospitals and health systems utilize social media to allow users to provide feedback and ratings. The correlation between ratings on social media and more conventional hospital quality metrics remains largely unclear, raising concern that healthcare consumers may make decisions on inaccurate or inappropriate information regarding quality.
Feb 18, 2015
As hospital and health system reimbursements become more closely tied to clinical outcomes as well as patient satisfaction, patient experience surveys are becoming an increasingly valuable tool for healthcare organizations to guide efforts for improving the patient experience.
Feb 17, 2015
Of the many requests President Obama will be making of Congress this year, one will be for more funding to combat the ongoing problem of Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs).
Feb 11, 2015
Scientists say nurses like Sunny Vespico are prime examples of what nursing schools and hospitals are doing wrong: They keep teaching nursing employees how to lift and move patients in ways that could inadvertently result in career-ending back injuries.
Feb 10, 2015
A recent study using data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) showed that increases in hospital nurse staffing levels are associated with reductions in adverse events and lengths of stay. In addition, the study found that increased staffing levels do not lead to increased costs, according to a Feb. 3 AHRQ newsletter. Researchers also found that increasing the number of registered nurses, as opposed to other nursing positions, led to reduced costs. The authors linked hospital nurse staffing data to AHRQ's Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) State Inpatient Databases from California, Maryland and Nevada between 2008 and 2011 to estimate the causal relationship between nurse staffing (level and skill mix), quality (adverse events as measured by nurse-sensitive patient safety indicators), lengths of stay and cost. The findings suggest that increased staffing of registered nurses can improve patient outcomes and efficiency. The study, "Examining the Value of Inpatient Nurse Staffing: An Assessment of Quality and Patient Care Costs," appeared in the November issue of Medical Care.
Feb 9, 2015
Infections are the most likely reason people end up back in the hospital after surgery, a new study finds. Of nearly 500,000 operations studied, 6 percent of the patients were readmitted for surgical complications within a month after their surgery, researchers found.
Jan 23, 2015
Few things cause as much angst for a nurse as placing a patient in a restraint, who may feel his or her personal freedom is being taken away. But in certain situations, restraining a patient is the only option that ensures the safety of the patient and others.
Jan 22, 2015
Many intensive care units use daily chlorhexidine bathing as a way to decolonize patients to prevent healthcare-associated infections and transmission of drug-resistant germs, but a recent study highlighted in a JAMA editorial proves this practice may be ineffective.
Jan 20, 2015
"Nurses: Their Vital Role in Transforming Healthcare," narrated by Joan Lunden, is a half-hour documentary exploring the impact of nurses on our nation’s health care system, in our community, on patients and their families, and of course, on the nurses themselves. We look at the role of nurses on both the front lines of health care, as well as the backbone of patient treatment. We see nurses as innovators in health care–like pain detection in newborns. We see how their observational skills, advanced knowledge, interventions and compassionate care help patients manage their medical needs.
Jan 19, 2015
This study was undertaken to gain insight into how nurse leaders are influencing the use of performance data to improve nursing care in hospitals. Two themes emerged: getting relevant, reliable, and timely data into the hands of nurses and the leaders' ability to "connect the dots" in working with different stakeholders. Study findings may inform nurse leaders in their efforts to leverage data to transform nursing care.
Jan 16, 2015
The HAI Progress Report describes significant reductions reported at the national level in 2013 for nearly all infections. CLABSI and SSI show the greatest reduction, with some progress shown in reducing hospital-onset MRSA bacteremia and hospital-onset C. difficile infections. The Report shows an increase in CAUTI, signaling a strong need for additional prevention efforts.
Jan 13, 2015
Health reform is and has been a hot-button issue for both politicians and healthcare leaders for the last few years, though talk of significant, government-led reform has been discussed for decades. In the wake of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, healthcare reform is a highly contested and very politically polarizing issue. It is therefore very important to know what is going on and where. here you have the 60 things to know about healthcare reform in the United States.
Jan 8, 2015
Measures reported on CMS' Hospital Compare website exert strong influence over many hospital leaders' local planning and improvement efforts, according to a recent survey published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Given how little is known about the attitudes of hospital leaders toward existing quality measures, researchers sent questionnaires to senior hospital leaders from a random sample of 630 U.S. hospitals with 380 responding.
Jan 2, 2015
The Outbreaks: Protecting Americans from Infectious Diseases report finds that the Ebola outbreak exposes serious underlying gaps in the nation's ability to manage severe infectious disease threats.
Half of states and Washington, D.C. scored five or lower out of 10 key indicators related to preventing, detecting, diagnosing and responding to outbreaks. Maryland, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia tied for the top score - achieving eight out of 10 indicators. Arkansas has the lowest score at two out of 10.
Dec 4, 2014
Everyone with a role in health care wants to improve the quality and safety of our delivery system. Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released results of its Partnership for Patients Program (PPP) and celebrated large improvements in patient outcomes.
Dec 2, 2014
A report released by the Department of Health and Human Services today shows an estimated 50,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and approximately $12 billion in health care costs were saved as a result of a reduction in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2013.
Nov 19, 2014
According the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand hygiene remains the single most important intervention in the quest for targeting zero healthcare-associated infections; however, experts recognize the growing role the patient's own skin flora plays in the potential development of an HAI, specifically bloodstream infections.
Nov 9, 2014
Three CALNOC Performance Excellence Winners are featured in this Sacramento Bee article on the significant strides hospitals are making to eliminate pressure ulcers.
September 22, 2014
It's often said that where Medicare goes, private payers will follow. For hospitals, health systems and other providers, it has been the most influential healthcare program for the industry in recent decades.
September 12, 2014
A value-based approach to hospital operations could improve performance by up to 30 percent, leading major providers like the Cleveland Clinic and Kaiser Permanente to embrace it, according to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
September 4, 2014
Evaluation of the short-term and long-term effect of a short series of hand hygiene campaigns on improving adherence in a tertiary care hospital in India. Hand hygiene compliance at our institution was monitored by direct observation before and after a series of 2 hand hygiene awareness campaigns across an 18-month time period to analyze the effect of these campaigns. A total of 5,059 opportunities for hand hygiene were observed. Compliance increased from 28.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 18.7%-43.2%) to 42.5% (95% CI, 30.7%-54.8%) after the 2 campaigns (P < .0001) but dropped to 36.4% (95% CI, 30.5%-44.5%) after 2 years (P < .001). Three of the 8 intensive care units that showed a significant increase after the campaigns did not maintain the increased compliance at 2 years' follow-up. We conclude that educational programs should be repeatedly conducted to maintain high adherence to hand hygiene standards in health care settings.
September 4, 2014
Zolpidem is the active ingredient in the prescription sleep aids Ambien®, Ambien CR®, Edluar® and Zolpimist®. The estimated number of emergency department visits involving zolpidem overmedication (taking more than the prescribed amount) nearly doubled from 21,824 visits in 2005-2006 to 42,274 visits in 2009-2010, according to a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
August 20, 2014
Advances in Patient Safety: From Research to Implementation describes what federally funded programs have accomplished in understanding medical errors and implementing programs to improve patient safety over the last 5 years. This compendium is sponsored jointly by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Department of Defense (DoD)-Health Affairs.
July 31, 2014
Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle) employed the Lean concept of Jidoka (automation with a human touch) to plan for and deploy bar code medication administration (BCMA) to hospitalized patients.
July 30, 2014
Today’s front-line nursing staff face a growing list of responsibilities. From overseeing the treatment and recovery of their patients to documentation and facility oversight, a nurse’s daily requirements seem to grow even in periods of hospital reductions. To assist with spreading the leadership skills required in the ever-changing health care environment, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is pleased to offer Improvement Skills to Empower Front-Line Nurses, a series of three audio conferences. Each call will help front-line nurses develop the skills necessary to lead improvement in their everyday work.
July 28, 2014
For hospitals, benchmarking data can be incredibly valuable. It allows individual institutions to identify areas of excellence and assess opportunities for improvement, ultimately resulting in more efficient operations and better care. Becker's Hospital Review has compiled a list of 100 patient safety benchmarks from various sources for hospital comparison.
July 16, 2014
Carolyn Jones learned first hand the healing power of a nurse's touch. She was so impacted she produced a documentary called "The American Nurse" honoring the incredible work of nurses. This is a 7 minute video feature from the Katie Couric show. Here is a link to more information on the The American Nurse Project
July 14, 2014
This pilot study identified a low rate (5%) of
medication administration errors and fair compliance with the six safety processes on two pediatric units and one neonatal unit following Bar Code Medication Administration implementation.
June 27, 2014
These are some of the ideas brought up at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week during a panel discussion featuring Toby Cosgrove, MD, CEO of Cleveland Clinic and Jonathan Bush, CEO and co-founder of Athenahealth.
June 17, 2014
Disruptive forces in healthcare, which healthcare leaders will need to address in their strategies if they intend to realize continued growth in the significantly changing marketplace.
June 13, 2014
From 2012 to 2013, the 38-hospital San Francisco-based Dignity Health HEN reduced catheter-associated urinary tract infections by 52.7 percent, central line-associated bloodstream infections by 31.4 percent, surgical site infections by 36.3 percent, ventilator-associated pneumonia by 52.1 percent and patient falls by 25.5 percent, just to name a few.
June 9, 2014
In the emergency department at Children's Medical Center in Dallas, pharmacists who specialize in emergency medicine review each medication to make sure it's the right one in the right dose. It's part of the hospital's efforts to cut down on medication errors and dangerous drug interactions, which contribute to more than 7,000 deaths across the country each year.
June 5, 2014
A nurse-driven, investigative approach to customer service helped nurses at Grady Memorial Hospital's emergency department boost patient satisfaction and improve interdepartmental communication, according to Advance Healthcare Network for Nurses. Emergency room nurses, who treat approximately 10,000 patients every month at the urban safety-net academic hospital in Atlanta, created a five-step customer service initiative to act out broad scenarios while moderators gave them challenges they'd encounter in an everyday setting, according to the article.
June 5, 2014
The Senate confirmed Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the 22nd secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Washington Post reported Thursday afternoon. An overwhelming 78-17 approval vote puts Burwell, who previously served as the White House's budget director, in the spotlight to deal with the Affordable Care Act and the U.S. healthcare system, according to the report.
May 20, 2014
This multimedia presentation shows how leaders from five California public hospital systems traveled the country to learn how to apply the Lean management model to improve patient care.
May 9, 2014
It's no coincidence that it has been more than two years since Carolinas Hospital System recorded a central-line associated blood stream infection in its surgical intensive care unit. CHS switched several of the products used in the SICU in an effort to reduce CLABSI rates there. For instance, according to Ann North, RN, the director of infection prevention control, the organization changed to a new type of dressing with the antiseptic chlorhexidine gluconate. This "took potential user error" out of the dressing equation, which led to fewer infections, she explained.
May 7, 2014
New HHS preliminary data show an overall 9 percent decrease in hospital acquired conditions nationally during 2011 and 2012. National reductions in adverse drug events, falls, infections and other forms of hospital-induced harm are estimated to have prevented nearly 15,000 hospital deaths, avoided 560,000 patient injuries and saved approximately $4 billion in health spending during that period.
May 7, 2014
The following is a list of 50 experts leading the field of patient safety. The list includes individuals at healthcare organizations, national organizations, universities and other institutions who are devoted to improving patient safety and quality of care.
Apr 28, 2014
The phrase "safety culture" is widely used but rarely understood. Even if you do fully understand the concept, turning that knowledge into actions that positively influence your organization can be a challenge.
Apr 28, 2014
Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare Aims to Prevent Inpatient Falls with Injury. A Robust Approach Leads to Significant Reduction of Inpatient Falls with Injury.
Apr 14, 2014
More experienced nurses deliver better patient care and shorten length of stay, according to a study published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics
Apr 7, 2014
Recalling six-year-old results from a national patient satisfaction survey, Park Ridge Health Director of Patient Experience Cammy Horrell said the local hospital had the weakest scores in Western North Carolina.
Apr 1, 2014
Health care workers’ (HCWs) perceptions and attitudes affect implementation of precautions to prevent transmission of drug-resistant pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Identification of challenges and barriers to recommended practices is a critical component of promoting a safe clinical environment of care.
Mar 26, 2014
What happens when pay-for-performance doesn't just apply to physicians and hospital reimbursements, but a hospital's staff as a whole?
Mar 10, 2014
Hospital-acquired infections affect approximately 440,000 patients each year in the U.S., costing roughly $10 billion a year. Largely preventable, healthcare organizations across the country have long focused on reducing HAIs; yet, HAIs continue to plague our nation's hospitals.
Mar 5, 2014
Many good resources are available for preventing diagnostics errors on the National Patient Safety Foundation website linked above.
Feb 28, 2014
The "Lift Tool" is a one-page brief on the basics of safe patient lifting practices for nurses and other healthcare providers. The brief contains both statistics on patient lifts and best practices for safe lifting.
Feb 6, 2014
The American Nurses Association has released the six winners of its 2013 National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators awards at its 2014 ANA Quality Conference in Phoenix. These hospitals demonstrated the sustained ability to meet and exceed the ANA's standards for patient safety and quality of care benchmarks.
CMS announced an open period for additional organizations to be considered for participation in its Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative Feb. 14. Background on the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Initiative
In a new study, researchers have developed a list of 24 evidence-based practice competencies - a combination of knowledge and skills - for registered and advanced-practice nurses in real-world clinical settings
As new technologies are developed and adopted across healthcare settings, the problem continues to grow, forcing organizations to reach beyond previous attempts to drive chatter out of the hospital.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has added a third year to Stage 2 of the EHR meaningful use program and has delayed the start of Stage 3 until 2017. Providers with at least two years of participation in Stage 2 can start Stage 3--the criteria of which remains in development--in 2017.
Statistics on hospital-acquired conditions, adverse events and patient safety extracted from chapter three, "Patient Safety Importance," from the 2012 National Healthcare Quality Report, produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
By tightening up their OR management, hospitals can also improve their clinical outcomes, surgeon satisfaction, patient volume and financial performance.
Timeline: Key healthcare deadlines for 2014 and beyond
New research supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality(AHRQ) found that implementing the On-Time Quality Improvement for Long Term Care (On-Time) Program, a clinical decision support intervention, led to a significant reduction in pressure ulcers.
The changes confronting the health care system are so significant that many of the models that the health care system has relied on, such as the traditional bedside care team, may no longer be the best, or even a plausible, approach to care.
Mapping the Economic Value of Nursing
Understanding Publicly Reported Hospital Quality Measures
Hospital-Acquired Conditions to Remain on the Hospital Compare Site.
CBO Revises Projections Related to ACA and Health Care Spending.
Hospitals report reductions in some types of health care-associated infections.
Joanna Briggs Institute.Comprehensive Systematic Review Training Announced.
Hospitals report mixed results in protecting patients from infections. CDC report shows reduction in some infection types, but others remain unchanged.
The Top Patient Safety Strategies That Can Be Encouraged for Adoption Now. Annals of Internal Medicine article.
CALNOC would like to congratulate Sonora Regional Medical Center who was recently named a top performer by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for delivering high quality care in six clinical areas.
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