Quality & Patient Safety Newsletters

Briefings on Infection Control Briefings on The Joint Commission Patient Safety Monitor (Briefings on Patient Safety)

As part of your Patient Safety Monitor membership, you'll receive Briefings on Patient Safety. In this 12-page monthly newsletter, discover the regulatory news, best practices, and staff training ideas you need to successfully create a culture of patient safety in your facility. Don't miss another issue. Become a member of Patient Safety Monitor today!

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Patient Safety Monitor (Briefings on Patient Safety)

Issue 12, December 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Test staff's ability to hear and respond to clinical alarms

  Do your staff know how to hear and respond to all of the clinical alarm systems on your patient...

• Ship shape: Cruise ship vacation inspired patient safety initiative

  Becky Phillips was on a cruise ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean when she got an idea for a...

• New tracer surveys: More face time between staff and surveyors

  Wondering what your next survey will be like once the JCAHO switches over to its "tracer...

Issue 11, November 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Poor communication cited in patient deaths at Boston hospital

  Patient safety officers are taking a closer look at how physicians and nurses communicate after...

• Patient 'goals' checklist cuts ICU length of stay in half

  Using a daily checklist to track each patient's goals can boost patient safety by decreasing...

• National Patient Safety Goals compliance a problem during two recent surveys

  Patient safety goals were a strong focus during two recent surveys, when the Los Alamos (NM...

Issue 10, October 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• JCAHO: Physicians-not nurses-must obtain informed consent

  New JCAHO standards for 2004 state that the physician or licensed independent practitioner (LIP...

• Assess OR fire risk to react quickly

  On June 2, a sick infant undergoing an operation at Duke Medical Center in Durham, NC, suffered...

• Use education to boost patient involvement

  Despite the best intentions, medical errors occur in all health care settings-including hospitals...

Issue 9, September 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The JCAHO sticks with the 2003 National Patient Safety Goals

  Editor's note: This story was adapted from the July 22 fax express sent to your facility. The...

• A Midwest hospital gives patients a voice to address safety concerns

  Editor's note: In the first of the "Just Ask" series, which details how to involve patients in...

• Failure modes and effects analysis can improve patient safety by reducing potent

  If your facility conducts a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) just to comply with the...

• Head off errors: Eliminate color-coded adapters on oxygen flowmeters

  Most medical professionals associate the color green with oxygen, especially when it comes to...

Issue 8, August 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The 10 new JCAHO standards you should read tonight

  Just when you've mastered the 2003 National Patient Safety Goals, the JCAHO lets loose the...

• Prepare for a focus on kernicterus

  Partly in response to attention from PICK, the JCAHO released a Sentinel Event Alert on the...

• Presenting your staffing effectiveness data

  How to choose the graphs that will catch leadership's attention The power of data lies in...

• Eight secrets for dealing with the press

  Dealing with the media doesn't always have to be painful. "The bad news is we [reporters] will...

• Surgery center prepares for unannounced JCAHO visit with mock survey

  Editor's note: Mercy Terrace Hill Surgery Center in Des Moines, IA, had its JCAHO survey in July...

Issue 7, July 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• JCAHO simplifies surgical site-marking recommendation

  When JCAHO surveyors conducted random, unannounced surveys this year, they found that more than 25...

• National Quality Forum endorses 30 best practices

  Debating where to focus your patient safety energy and resources? You may want to consider...

• Case study: How Memorial Hospital of Union County ensures compliance with Nation

  Patient safety was a priority at Memorial Hospital of Union County-a small community hospital...

• Survey report: Continuous readiness pays off for this patient safety program

  Surveyors' focus on the 2003 National Patient Safety Goals was no surprise to Twentynine Palms...

Issue 6, June 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Case study: Barcode system cuts medication errors

  Though a multidisciplinary team at St. Marys Hospital Medical Center in Madison, WI, had been...

• Survey report: Patient identification, infection control, and abbreviations were

  Nanticoke Health Services in Seaford, DE, includes 110 acute-care beds, a long-term care facility...

• A positive twist on improvement

  No matter whether they're on the giving or the receiving end, few people enjoy the intense scrutiny...

Issue 5, May 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• What you need to know: Proposed federal patient safety initiatives

  The good news: Under a new bar coding rule proposed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), your...

• Case study: When things go right

  One hospital performs root-cause analyses on positive events It struck the medics as unusual...

• Cracking the toughest patient safety standards

  With all the excitement over the new National Patient Safety Goals, you may have forgotten about...

• Survey report: Hospital sweats it out waiting for the JCAHO to rule on its alter

  Loris (SC) Healthcare System, a 105bed acute-care facility with a freestanding emergency room and...

Issue 4, April 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Do's and don'ts for executive rounds

  Nurses on a medical floor at Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Massachusetts were frustrated. They...

• Case study: Duke revises its organ procurement procedures

  In a root-cause analysis, the organization traced the cause of the event back to a number of "human...

• Tips for implementing Patient Safety Goal #2

  There it is, all spelled out: JCAHO's National Patient Safety Goal #2 tells you to put in place a...

• Patient safety survey report: Surveyors checked how this hospital will monitor i

  Ridgecrest (CA) Regional Hospital is an 80-bed facility. The hospital achieved an overall score of...

Issue 3, March 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

Issue 2, February 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

Issue 1, January 1, 2003 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

Issue 3, March 21, 2003

• Can privacy and safety coexist?

  Ensure patient safety after HIPAA’s April 14 deadline Keeping track of which patient has...

• Case study: Johns Hopkins ICUs decrease catheter-related bloodstream infections

  Two years ago, bloodstream infection rates soared in Johns Hopkins University Medical...

• Patient safety survey report: Psych hospital takes on the new patient safety i

  Eastern State Hospital is a 500-bed psychiatric hospital in Williamsburg, VA. It also has a...

• What to expect during the JCAHO’s patient safety and med interview

  Expecting a hospital survey in 2003? Say goodbye to the patient care interview—but...

Issue 2, February 21, 2003

• Do you know what triggers harm at your hospital?

  About a year and a half ago, patients at Illinois-based OSF HealthCare experienced an average of...

• Officials may eventually enforce public quality measures project

  A voluntary initiative by the hospital industry to collect and share data on quality measures may...

• Reap benefits from health care’s natural resources

  Medical reimbursement is down, nurse staffing is scarce, while public concern about safety and...

• The new patient safety officer

  Tips to help increase his or her effectivenessNo one asked Sharon Fischer, RN, to be a patient...

Issue 1, January 21, 2003

• Case study: Use FMEA to prevent falls in a behavioral health unit

  The geriatric behavioral health unit at NorthEast Medical Center in Concord, NC, once had a fall...

• Data-based program helps drastically reduce mortality and morbidity

  Preventing overt mistakes such as wrong-site surgery may be a challenging task for patient safety...

• Will your next JCAHO survey have a patient safety focus?

  The topic of patient safety continues to generate chatter in the mainstream media, among...