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"Increasingly, physicians and managed care organizations are being held accountable for quality of care based on the processes and outcomes of medical care and patient satisfaction. Yet high-quality care delivery involves more than good technical quality and acceptable customer service it also means upholding high ethical standards."
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Even with the driven culture of modern medicine, one study published recently in the Journal of Medical Ethics found that 73% of 338 respondents said that they usually discuss their mistakes with their colleagues.
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The IntegratedEthics program developed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for its facilities, which comprise the largest health care system in the United States, has drawn interest and attention both domestically and internationally.
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The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has announced the launch of APIC Consulting Services Inc.
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A survey tool to assess infection control in ambulatory care settings was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for use by inspectors for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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Conducting an inspection in a Las Vegas endoscopy clinic shortly before it became the epicenter of the largest "look-back" patient testing effort in medical history, inspectors for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services saw nothing amiss with needle practices that ultimately led to a nationally publicized hepatitis C outbreak, Hospital Infection Control & Prevention has learned.
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(Editor's note: The following frequently asked questions were posted on The Joint Commission web site regarding the issue of health care-associated infections and sentinel events. They were marked as most recently reviewed in March 2008.)
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An unlucky 13 out of every 1,000 inpatients in recently surveyed hospitals were either infected or colonized with Clostridium difficile, a rate that is 6.5 to 20 times higher than previous incidence estimates.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that a final rule will appear in the Nov. 18, 2008, Federal Register detailing changes to the agency's outpatient ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system.
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Zero needlesticks. That is the goal set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta as one of the Seven Healthcare Safety Challenges. So why did CDC contract with Novartis for prefilled, thimerosal-free syringes that had conventional needles attached? Federal law has required the use of safety-engineered devices for almost eight years.