Hospital Peer Review – February 1, 2004
February 1, 2004
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Assess the quality of your core measure data: What you find may be surprising
Imagine hearing this as part of a competitors advertising campaign: At your hospital, fewer pneumonia patients receive antibiotics within recommended time frames. And your facility boasts the highest inpatient mortality rate for heart attacks. -
Use tools to improve core measure results
Do you want to improve both core measure results and the consistency of patient care at your hospital? Your No. 1 goal should be to find ways to make it easier for caregivers to make the correct choices, says Steve Osborn, CPHQ, vice president of clinical quality and patient safety at Saint Vincent Health Center in Erie, PA. -
Program helps patients who take anticoagulants
While an elderly man on warfarin was waiting to get blood drawn at his physicians office, he was handed some educational materials about the drug. The packet included warnings that the shape of the pill may change based on the manufacturer of the drug, but the color will never change, says Kim Shields, RN, clinical systems safety officer and team leader for the Virtual Anticoagulation Project at Abington (PA) Memorial Hospital. -
Electronic systems can promote safety, study says
Are you lobbying for your organization to make a capital investment in information technology systems? A new report from the Washington, DC-based Institute of Medicine (IOM) may give you added ammunition. -
The Quality-Cost Connection: Applying the principles of process variation
During the 1980s, U.S. manufacturers began to study why the quality of Japanese products was much better than for those made in the United States. -
Involve key players to address infection control
There is abundant evidence that preventing deadly health care-associated infections is a top priority for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.