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A project designed to analyze labeling errors and devise solutions resulted in a 37% decrease in errors across nine hospitals in Pennsylvania.
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Palliative care isn't just for hospice patients it is also used to manage the symptoms of those with chronic or advanced illnesses. One hospital system in Michigan has brought palliative care into all aspects of hospital care for all patients.
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To paraphrase an old TV ad, "When The Joint Commission speaks, people listen." So when Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, president, and Jerod M. Loeb, PhD, executive vice president, Health Care Quality Evaluation, co-authored a recent article in Health Affairs entitled, "The Ongoing Quality Improvement Journey: Next Stop, High Reliability," you can bet healthcare quality professionals stood up and took notice.
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There are ways to minimize labeling errors. Top strategies include bar coding technology, firm policies and procedures, and accounting for the human factors that can prompt errors.
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In its annual survey, The Leapfrog Group will now honor nurses who demonstrate excellence in the area of patient safety.
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Barcoded wristbands can greatly reduce the opportunity for patient identification errors, says David Grant, RPh, MBA, vice president of pharmacy and clinical process improvement at Summit Health in Chambersburg, PA.
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The Center for Heart & Vascular Health of Christiana Care Health System, a large healthcare organization based in Wilmington, DE, has received a Get With The GuidelinesHeart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award from The American Heart Association, signifying that it has reached the goal of treating heart failure patients with 85% compliance for at least 24 months to core standard levels of care.
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There is no question that hospitals face innumerable challenges in meeting the "meaningful use" of health information technology (HIT) criteria established by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009.
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All of the discussion in recent years about the risks from exposure to radiation from computed tomography (CT) scans has hardly dampened enthusiasm for the technology in the ED. To the contrary, a new study suggests that CT use in the ED increased by a whopping 330% between 1996 and 2007, according to a retrospective look at data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which is a national survey of services in emergency departments conducted by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA. However, the study also suggests that the increase in CT use may be associated with a dramatic reduction in hospitalizations.
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