Surgical Council facilitates service line moves between hospitals
To improve healthcare delivery and eliminate duplication, hospitals are banding together into systems in which specialties such as labor and delivery and smaller surgical cases are performed at satellite hospitals, and larger, more complex procedures are done at the main campus. This is the approach taken at the Cleveland Clinic,…
Editorial
Societal problems in recent years have placed increasing burdens on healthcare workers. With the increase in mass casualty victims, people displaced by natural disasters, and drug or alcohol addicts, itโs not uncommon to experience disruptive patients or families of patients who arrive at the facility under a great deal of…
Constancy: The key ingredient for safe patient care
When errors occur, sometimes with devastating consequences, healthcare leaders often perform a root cause analysis (RCA) to prevent a recurrence. Understanding what happened is an important step in the recovery process. Itโs also important to realize the effect of a sentinel event on healthcare providersโthose โsecond victimsโ who find themselves…
Opioid prescriptions drop after orthopedic team changes protocol
Can hospital leaders and surgeons partner to reduce opioid use while maintaining high patient satisfaction scores? Leaders at OSS Orthopaedic Hospital in York, Pennsylvania, answer that question with a yes. Meghan McNelly, PharmD, MHA, FACHE, who was director of pharmacy at OSS when the opioid-reduction project started, says that from…
More cases start on time after nurses change workflow
Among the many variables that influence on-time starts of surgical cases are the arrival times of patients and staff, as well as the verifications and documentation required before patients are brought to the OR. Increasing on-time starts was a key initiative at Fox Chase Cancer Center. By exploring the influences…
AAMI releases new standard on sterilization quality management
The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has released a sterilization standard on quality management for central service (CS) sterile processing. The new standard, ANSI/AAMI ST90: 2017 Processing of Health Care Products: Quality Management Systems for Processing in Health Care Facilities, provides guidelines to support quality management systems…
Planning eases compliance with CMS emergency preparedness rules
As of November of 2017, healthcare providersโincluding ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs)โreceiving reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) were expected to comply with the 2016 Emergency Preparedness Requirements. And as with most government regulations, there are multiple pages of instructions to dissect and understand to satisfy the…
Cost-benefit analysis of maintaining a fully stocked MH cart in maternity units
Editor's Note This study found no cost benefit to maintaining a fully stocked malignant hyperthermia (MH) cart with a full supply of dantrolene in maternity units, where triggering agents are rarely used. Maintaining an MH cart in every maternity unit in the US would reduce morbidity and mortality costs by…
Joint Commission reduces requirements applicable to telehealth services in ambulatory care
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on May 16 announced that approximately 25% of applicable elements of performance (EPs) in its ambulatory care program will no longer apply to organizations that primarily provide surgical and nonsurgical services via a telehealth platform. Among the reductions: 12 EPs in the Environment of Care…
Homeless veterans at increased risk of postop readmission
Editor's Note For veterans having surgical procedures performed in the VA healthcare system, homelessness is an important risk factor for unplanned readmission, finds this study. Analyzing 232,373 surgical procedures performed on 199,879 patients, researchers found that 5,068 of the procedures were performed on homeless patients. The rate of readmission within…