Healthcare Risk Management
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MSU Expands Risk Management, Adds Additional Safeguards
Michigan State University has expanded its risk management program after the arrest and conviction of Larry Nassar, a former USA Gymnastics national team doctor and osteopathic physician at the university, for the sexual abuse of minor patients. The university recently signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to make further improvements.
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Oncology Unit Improves Safety and Culture With Focus on Relationships
An oncology unit at a Washington, DC, hospital has improved patient safety by focusing on “relationship-based care,” a model that aims to help nurses focus more on caring for and connecting with other people. The 5E Medical Oncology/Hematology Unit at MedStar Washington Hospital Center recently received AMSN Premier Recognition In the Specialty of Med-Surg (PRISM) Award. The unit had made strides in recent years in improving quality and safety on the unit as well as the overall culture.
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Hospital Addresses Stress With Healthy Healer Program
A Colorado hospital is addressing stress by reminding clinicians that it is OK to take a moment for themselves and focus only on the patient care at hand. Craig Hospital created its Healthy Healer program two years ago to help nurses address their stress in a positive way, encouraging them to be more at ease during patient interactions and better able to focus on providing proper care. The program has been expanded to include physicians and other clinicians.
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Stress Decreases Ability to Focus, Increases Errors
Stress can lead to two distinct types of attention problems with clinicians. When under a great deal of stress, some people will focus intently on the one task viewed as primary, such as a surgeon who concentrates so much on the surgical activity that the bigger picture of the patient’s status is neglected. Others may go in the opposite direction and try to divide their attention among so many tasks that none receive adequate attention.
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Provider Stress Can Trickle Down to Affect Patient Safety
The healthcare industry can be stressful for everyone involved, with clinicians sometimes suffering greatly from the workload, time demands, bureaucracy, and the emotional nature of their work. Minimizing stress is important for the health of the caregivers, but also to maintain patient safety. When staff are exhausted, experiencing depersonalization from their work and feeling less effective, they are more likely to fail to follow practices that support high-quality, safer care.
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1914 Case Established Informed Consent Principles
A 1914 case from the New York Court of Appeals established some of the foundation for what the healthcare community now thinks of as the informed consent process.
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Informed Consent Must Be More Than a Clerical Task
Informed consent is a fundamental part of the healthcare process. Risk managers know the risks that can come with failing to adequately educate patients and document their consent. But the procedure is so common and performed so often that there is potential for it to become routine and less thorough.
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Social Engineering Scams, Attacks Can Threaten HIPAA Security
Despite years of educating healthcare staff about the need for data security and the myriad ways people can worm their way into an otherwise secure system, employees still can fall prey to social engineering scams and allow HIPAA data breaches.
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Checklist Items for Selecting a Compliant Vendor
There is no quick and easy way to select a vendor to trust with HIPAA-sensitive data. It requires some legwork to determine what kind of security they have in place and possibly identify any shortcomings.
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Vendors Continue to Be Weak Point in HIPAA Security
Vendors always have been one of the most worrisome parts of HIPAA security because hospitals and health systems must rely on them for the appropriate technological and physical security for protected data — without the ability to dictate exactly how. Research shows that those fears are well founded, with many health organizations experiencing an increase in investigations and fines from HHS that are related to poor vendor HIPAA security.