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The greater amount of top leadership involvement in a root cause analysis (RCA), the greater the likelihood of significant patient safety improvements. Senior leaders don't need to be appointed to RCA teams but some level of leadership oversight and intervention is important throughout the life of the investigation.
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Better teamwork. It sounds like a simple strategy, but this goal has proved surprisingly elusive for many health care organizations.
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The general public already can find out what percentile your organization scored in when it comes to quality measures for conditions such as acute myocardial infarction or pneumonia.
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Patients are being put at risk because important health care information is communicated in medical jargon that exceeds their literary skills, according to a new white paper from The Joint Commission.
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This year, the Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey will include the types of questions asked by other national initiatives such as The Joint Commission, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 Lives campaign, says to the Washington, DC-based organization.
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When it comes to quality assurance in the customer service arena, those patient satisfaction surveys that have become ubiquitous in health care may not be providing accurate feedback, suggests Michael Friedberg, FACHE, CHAM, a manager with Besler Consulting in Princeton, NJ.
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Quality improvement professionals have long known of the difficulties involved in discharge communications between hospital-based physicians and primary care physicians, but in the words of one observer, "This is the first time the problem has been quantified."
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Rude remarks, intimidated staff, unresolved conflicts between leaders, and abusive behavior your organization will need to have effective processes in place to address all of these scenarios.
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At Anaheim Memorial Medical Center, a 224-bed acute care hospital in Orange County, CA, surveyors from The Joint Commission were so impressed with the handoff communication process for perioperative services, they asked for a sample of the hospital's tool.
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What can possibly be more frustrating than walking into a hospital and being treated poorly?