Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety / Joint Commission Resources
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Jul 2013
A handoff protocol from the cardiovascular operating room to cardiac ICU is associated with improvements in care beyond the immediate postoperative period.
Handoff protocols from the cardiovascular operating room (CVOR) to the cardiac intensive care unit (CICU) can improve patient outcomes and delivery of care beyond the immediate postoperative period. In a prospective quality improvement study, a structured CVOR-to-CICU handoff protocol was implemented at a university-affiliated children's hospital. As a parallel project, an initiative to reduce unplanned extubations in the CICU was implemented. ⋯ Implementation of a handoff protocol from the CVOR to the CICU was associated with sustained decrease in unplanned extubations and in mean ventilator times.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Jul 2013
Return on investment for vendor computerized physician order entry in four community hospitals: the importance of decision support.
In-hospital adverse events are a major cause of morbidity and mortality and represent a major cost burden to health care systems. A study was conducted to evaluate the return on investment (ROI) for the adoption of vendor-developed computerized physician oder entry (CPOE) systems in four community hospitals in Massachusetts. ⋯ Adoption of vendor CPOE systems in community hospitals was associated with a modest ROI at best when applying cost savings attributable to prevention of ADEs only. The modest financial returns can beattributed to the lack of clinical decision support tools.