Quality & Patient Safety Newsletters

Briefings on Accreditation and Quality Patient Safety Monitor

Patient Safety Monitor is a searchable, web-based crosswalk that organizes state, CMS, and Joint Commission requirements by topic. It also provides access to news and analysis on dozens of the most challenging patient safety issues via the monthly journal, the tools and templates library, and the weekly e-newsletter.

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Issue 6, June 1, 2007

• Hold a Brown Bag Day for patients' medications

  "Brown-bagging it" can save you money, especially when it comes to prescription medications. The...

• Lighten up your training with humor

  Humor, when used appropriately, can be a powerful tool to teach staff members about patient safety...

• Technology, quality, satisfaction should go hand in hand

  The 18th Annual Healthcare Information Manage-ment Systems Society (HIMSS) Leadership Survey was...

• Weigh the pros and practicality of hand-hygiene 'spies'

  Most ICPs know well the difficulties in getting healthcare staff members to adhere to Centers for...

Issue 12, December 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Med rec, critical test results among 2007 NPSGs still challenging facilities

  Although the Joint Commission's (formerly JCAHO) 2008 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) loom on...

• Two facilities share creative handoff strategies

  Finding a handoff technique that works for your facility requires staff input, trial and error, and...

• Consider department-specific near-miss tracking

  Tracking near misses can be a challenge in any facility, both in terms of time-incidents that did...

• Where do FMEA and RCA opportunities fit in the budget?

  Editor's note: The following is the second in an occasional series regarding human error and its...

Issue 11, November 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Include visual clues in your med reconciliation forms

  East Texas Medical Center (ETMC) Quitman has started using a new medication reconciliation form to...

• Knocking out pressure ulcers through collaboration

  The New Jersey Hospital Association's (NJHA) Pressure Ulcer Collaborative has helped lower the...

• Defining and reducing human error

  Editor's note: The following is the first in a series about human error and its role in medical...

• Performance improvement in restraint and seclusion

  The Joint Commission's (formerly JCAHO) Improving Organizational Performance standards focus on the...

• Assessment and screening keys to meet suicide risk goal

  Hospitals that want to comply with National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) #15A need to focus on risk...

Issue 10, October 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Mother: Patients want to help after errors

  Patients and families affected by medical errors want to be part of the solution but are too often...

• Focus on these six most-cited NPSGs

  Six patient safety goals are the source of many healthcare organizations' woes. The notorious six...

• NPSGs as they relate to the MM standards

  Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from The Medication Management Compliance Kit, a book...

• Consider crew resource management training

  Crew resource management (CRM) is a team-training approach that healthcare has adopted from the...

Issue 9, September 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Learn the ABCs of central line insertion safety

  Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, TN, has broken down central line infection prevention to its...

• Stepping up heel protection

  Heels are especially troublesome for diabetic and heart patients, for whom the combination of...

• Using the waiting room successfully to educate

  Many hospitals struggle with communicating to patients the importance of managing their own...

• Make the right call with surgical time outs

  On June 20, nurses at Bucyrus (OH) Community Hospital (BCH) used a fashion statement to raise...

Issue 8, August 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• 2008 NPSGs include patient condition changes, anticoagulant therapy

  Healthcare organizations will face one new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) in 2008 requiring...

• Emphasis on discharge form helps hospitals lower CHF rates

  Adding specific information for congestive heart failure (CHF) patients to their discharge form...

• Med rec: It's not just for inpatients

  Medication reconciliation has been a National Patient Safety Goal for two years and still gives...

Issue 7, July 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Track your med rec compliance on one page

  Medication reconciliation remains a difficult National Patient Safety Goal for hospitals...

• Patients can help you prevent falls

  The Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goal on patient involvement requires you to inform...

• STOMPing out MRSA for good

  Hospitals across the country have started new initiatives to prevent the spread of deadly bacteria...

• A little ice cream can tell you a lot

  Health literacy is often difficult to gauge, but now hospitals have a new assessment tool to aid...

Issue 6, June 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

Issue 5, May 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Is your data lying to you?

  As more agencies and states get involved in patient safety, hospitals find themselves collecting...

• Communication makes a difference

  At Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, nurses are learning how to be comfortable...

• Plain language leads to better high-alert med policy

  At Sleepy Eye (MN) Medical Center, the hospital uses simple language and specific cues in its...

• Book excerpt: Suicide risk assessment FAQ

  Editor's note: The following FAQwas adapted from Suicide Risk Assessment: Practice Strategies and...

Issue 4, April 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Try simple forms to collect patient falls data

  Single-page checklists can help spot trends and patterns in fall incidents It takes good...

• Hourly rounding improves patient safety

  Call lights are both frustrating and essential features in most hospital units. Although the lights...

• Hitting a home run for patient safety

  In keeping with the season, Women's Hospital of Texas in Houston recently hosted a baseball-themed...

• Tips for building a better patient safety training program

  Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from the introduction of Ready, Set, Patient Safety...

Issue 3, March 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Summaries, outlines help patients understand safety information

  The administration at St. Luke's Behavioral Health Center in Phoenix believes that informing...

• Efficiency, small changes improve patient flow

  A recent survey conducted by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and software...

• The Joint Commission offers clarifications on goals

  The Joint Commission has reported an overall increase in noncompliance with its National Patient...

• Communication the root cause of medical errors

  What we have here is a failure to communicate. "Nurses and, I think, doctors are reluctant to...

Issue 2, February 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Checklists help clarify Universal Protocol steps

  Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro, NC, uses a checklist for all invasive procedures, regardless...

• Apnea, catheter misconnections among proposed NPSGs

  The Joint Commission unveiled six potential 2008 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) on December...

• A closer look at the IHI's new campaign

  Preventing five million injuries will require hospital-inspired initiatives, efforts The IHI's...

• Address disruptive clinician behavior in your hospital

  When the Joint Commission opened its field review in 2005 for the proposed 2007 National Patient...

Issue 1, January 1, 2007 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Simple practices help to avoid misconnections

  Flagler Hospital in St. Augustine, FL, has adapted the JCAHO's recommendations to avoid tubing...

• Encourage staff to catch mistakes before they happen

  Ripon (WI) Medical Center uses a nonpunitive "Form of Good Catches" to encourage staff to report...

• Two medical centers note their achievements with routine MRSA surveillance

  For two hospitals that have made efforts to better track and reduce methicillin-resistant...