Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety / Joint Commission Resources
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · May 2012
Automated dispensing cabinet alert improves compliance with obtaining blood cultures before antibiotic administration for patients admitted with pneumonia.
A Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) pneumonia quality measures with particular impact on the emergency department (ED) is blood cultures prior to antibiotic administration for patients admitted with pneumonia. A study was conducted to measure the impact of an automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) alert on improving compliance with the quality measure of obtaining blood cultures prior to giving antibiotics for patients admitted with pneumonia and who have blood cultures ordered. ⋯ In this population of patients with pneumonia, a series of questions in an ADC improved compliance with the quality measure regarding the obtaining of blood cultures prior to administering antibiotics to patients in whom blood cultures are requested.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · May 2012
Reporting information on emergency department crowding to the hospital board and delivery of time-sensitive care.
Hospital governing boards influence the quality of care that hospitals provide by holding senior leaders and managers accountable. A study was conducted to determine whether reporting data on emergency department (ED) crowding to hospital boards was associated with better performance on a time-sensitive quality measure for patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI): Primary PCI [percutaneous intervention] Within 90 Minutes of Hospital Arrival. ⋯ Reporting data on the incidence of ED boarding to hospital governing boards was associated with better performance for PCI. More research is needed to explore the direction of this relationship, but the results suggest that hospitals should consider reporting data on ED boarding to their boards as a low/no-cost quality improvement activity.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · May 2012
How to develop a second victim support program: a toolkit for health care organizations.
A toolkit was developed to help health care organizations implement support programs for clinicians suffering from the emotional impact of errors and adverse events. Based on the best available evidence related to the second victim experience, the toolkit consists of 10 modules, each with a series of specific action steps, references, and exemplars.
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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.