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As part of our falls prevention program, were considering more exercise programs for patients at risk for falls, to help them develop stability and balance. But weve heard some concerns that the at-risk patient is better off in bed instead of doing something that could result in a fall. What should we do?
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The new 2004 National Patient Safety Goals released recently by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations continue all of the 2003 goals and add one to reduce health care-acquired infections.
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The next time you see footage of an airline crew working in the cockpit of an airliner, listen to how they interact. They speak clearly to ensure information is conveyed well. Each crew member watches the others work to spot errors. If they can do that while flying from Newark to San Diego, why cant your staff do the same while caring for a post-op surgical patient? They can, according to advocates of a strategy called crew resource management.
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An innovative program at The Baylor Medical Center in Grapevine, TX, has increased reporting of errors and near misses tenfold by encouraging staff to plant a flag when coming across a pothole in the road. The hospital uses the pothole analogy to encourage staff to do something when it sees a potential medical error.
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recently called on hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to reduce the risk of serious and deadly fires in operating rooms with its set of 7 Absolutes to help you educate operating room staff.
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These are the required steps in the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations Universal Protocol for eliminating wrong-site, wrong-procedure, wrong-person surgery.
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With health officials, accreditors, and patient safety groups pushing hand hygiene as never before, the infection control professional is no longer the lone voice in the wilderness, preaching the gospel of Ignaz Semmelweis to the unwashed masses.
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As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services begins a new initiative to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS, health care facilities once again are talking about a long-controversial issue whether health care workers should be required to undergo screening for infection with HIV, or hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV).
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With the first non-Veterans Affairs (VA)-affiliated IRBs now achieving accreditation, IRB coordinators may have their clearest look so far at how the process has worked and what might be gained from jumping into the accreditation waters.