Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety / Joint Commission Resources
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Dec 2012
Design and implementation of a hospital-based usability laboratory: insights from a Department of Veterans Affairs laboratory for health information technology.
Although the potential benefits of more usable health information technologies (HIT) are substantial-reduced HIT support costs, increased work efficiency, and improved patient safety--human factors methods to improve usability are rarely employed. The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has emerged as an early leader in establishing usability laboratories to inform the design of HIT, including its electronic health record. Experience with a usability laboratory at a VA Medical Center provides insights on how to design, implement, and leverage usability laboratories in the health care setting. ⋯ The demand for usability testing of HIT is increasing, and information on how to develop usability laboratories for the health care setting is often needed. This article may assist other health care organizations that want to invest in usability resources to improve HIT. The establishment and utilization of usability laboratories in the health care setting may improve HIT designs and promote safe, high-quality care for patients.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Dec 2012
Simulator-based crew resource management training for interhospital transfer of critically ill patients by a mobile ICU.
Transporting critically ill ICU patients by standard ambulances, with or without an accompanying physician, imposes safety risks. In 2007 the Dutch Ministry of Public Health required that all critically ill patients transferred between ICUs in different hospitals be transported by a mobile ICU (MICU). Since March 2009 a specially designed MICU and a retrieval team have served the region near University Medical Center Groningen, in the northeastern region of the Netherlands. The MICU transport program includes simulator-based crew resource management (CRM) training for the intensivists and ICU nurses, who, with the drivers, constitute the MICU crews. ⋯ Setting up and implementing simulator-based CRM training provides feasible and helpful preparation for an MICU team.