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Like all technology, standardized order sets have both pros and cons, says Larry Abramson, DO, MPH, quality director at POH Medical Center in Pontiac, MI. "There is good and there is bad," he says. "My thoughts on order sets are that they are a necessary evil at this point."
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One woman's vision of a new type of hospital sparked after the lack of personalized care she experienced during treatment for a serious illness resulted in the creation of the Planetree organization, which has become became a leader in pioneering patient-centered care.
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Although nearly every physician surveyed in a recent study said they would disclose a hypothetical error, fewer than half have actually done so, says a new study from the University of Iowa.
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Just three new National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) were added by The Joint Commission this year, but the requirements both new and old pose some challenges for organizations and quality professionals.
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Almost half of hospital staff report there is room for improvement in the area of handoffs and transitions across units, according to the 2007 Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture Comparative Database Report released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
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Physician peer review has been an essential part of hospital quality since the American College of Surgeons first established minimum hospital standards in 1918. To this day an effective peer review process continues to be important.
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Data for every practitioner, analyzed frequently, with the right people in the loop you'll need to develop systems to ensure that all of these things happen on an ongoing basis, in order to comply with new medical staff standards from The Joint Commission.
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The traditional "bad apple" approach to peer review is changing to a new emphasis on performance improvement, says Nancy J. Auer, MD, FACEP, chief medical officer of Seattle-based Swedish Health Services.
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The Joint Commission's revised medical staff standards, which became effective Jan. 1, reflect the reality that credentialing and privileging is "really the single most important activity that an organization can do to ensure there are quality practitioners," according to John Herringer, associate director of standards interpretation for The Joint Commission, based in Oakbrook Terrace, IL.
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Joint Commission standards require the organized medical staff oversee the quality of care, treatment, and services rendered by physicians and other licensed independent practitioners. This includes monitoring the quality of services provided by hospital-based practitioners such as radiologists and pathologists.