Quality & Patient Safety

Quality & Patient Safety Headlines

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  • Press Ganey report: Patient satisfaction increasing across the country

    Patient satisfaction is on the rise, according to Press Ganey's annual Hospital Pulse Report. The report surveyed nearly 3 million patients about their experiences at more than 2,000 hospitals nationwide during 2008.

  • Diagnosis errors: No easy fix

    Physicians are responsible for one of the most complicated and important decisions in medicine: the diagnosis. Any further treatment plan rides on this diagnosis, and it may not be surprising that diagnosis error is now being looked at as a significant percentage of all medical errors. A report published in the November 9 Archives of Internal Medicine showed that anonymously, 310 physicians revealed 583 diagnosis errors, of which 44% were related to lab and radiology testing errors, including test ordering, test performance, and clinician processing.

  • RI hospital commits fifth wrong-site surgery since January 2007

    Staff members at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, RI, have committed the facility's fifth wrong-site surgery since January 2007, resulting in a $150,000 fine levied by the state's Department of Health, reports The Providence Journal.

  • HHS awards $17 million to projects dedicated to preventing healthcare-associated infections

    Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it awarded $17 million to specific projects in the name of fighting healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Of the total award, $8 million will specifically fund the national expansion of the Keystone Project, a program that successfully reduced the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in Michigan hospitals within 18 months, saving 1,500 lives. The coordination of the program in all 50 states is being run through the American Hospital Association's Health Research & Educational Trust. Last year, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality expanded the Keystone Project to 10 states.

  • Online tool helps potential H1N1 patients decide if they should visit hospital

    Microsoft has created an online tool to help alleviate some of the burden felt by hospitals that have already become overcrowded with patients who think they might have the H1N1 flu, reports HealthLeaders Media.

  • Study: Large variance in quality at U.S. hospitals

    The Twelfth Annual HealthGrades Hospital Quality in America Study shows that a large gap exists between the top-performing, highest quality hospitals and the rest of the hospitals in the country. After examining 40 million Medicare hospitalization records dating from 2006 through 2008, HealthGrades found that patients treated at a top hospital were 52% less likely to die as a result of their care, as compared with the average American hospital.