Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety / Joint Commission Resources
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Apr 2012
Surfacing safety hazards using standardized operating room briefings and debriefings at a large regional medical center.
Briefings and debriefings, previously shown to be a practical and feasible strategy to improve interdisciplinary communication and teamwork in the operating room (OR), was then assessed as a strategy to prospectively surface clinical and operational defects in surgical care--and thereby prevent patient harm. ⋯ Briefings and debriefings were a practical and effective strategy to surface potential surgical defects in the operating rooms of a large medical center.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Apr 2012
Beyond the focus group: understanding physicians' barriers to electronic medical records.
Although electronic medical records (EMRs) have potential to improve quality of care, physician adoption remains low. Rhode Island physicians' perceptions of barriers to EMRs and the association between these barriers and physician characteristics were examined. It was hypothesized that physicians with and without EMRs would differ in the types and magnitude of barriers identified. ⋯ An understanding of physicians' reluctance to use EMRs is critical for developing adoption strategies. Policies to increase EMR adoption should be tailored to different physician groups to achieve maximum effectiveness. Further research into the differences between current EMR users' and nonusers' perceptions of barriers may help elucidate how to facilitate subsequent adoption.