Editor's Note At least 23 hospitals in the Houston area affected by flooding from Hurricane Harvey have moved patients to other facilities, and another 25 are considered vulnerable to flooding or shortages of staff and supplies, the August 29 Houston Chronicle reports. The full tally of evacuated patients was not…

Read More

Editor's Note Flooding from Hurricane Harvey is pushing some Houston hospitals to close or evacuate, the August 27 Modern Healthcare reports. Baylor College of Medicine and clinics closed Sunday, August 27, as did all Texas Children’s Hospital’s pediatrics practices and urgent care locations. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer…

Read More

Editor's Note Results of a new national survey by the Hartford Consensus about views of the public and healthcare professionals on active shooter events in hospitals show that: 61% of the public and 62% of professionals believe physicians and nurses have a special duty to protect patients during an active…

Read More

Imagine this scenario in your ambulatory surgery center (ASC): A husband and wife in their early 80s arrive for the husband’s knee replacement surgery. His wife will drive him home after surgery, and their daughter will arrive from out of state the next day to help at home while he…

Read More

Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) on August 7 announced the release of a new manual, “Optimal Resources for Surgical Quality and Safety,” to help guide surgeons in leading quality improvement and patient safety efforts in their organizations. The collaborative publication from 135 contributing authors and two surgeon…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 28 posted a Quick Safety on daily safety briefings--a hallmark of high reliability organizations. Safety briefings--also called safety huddles, daily check-ins, or daily safety calls--are used to give keep frontline staff and leadership informed. The briefings can be used to: share issues that…

Read More

Editor's Note Despite widespread adoption of contact precautions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE), there is no strong clinical trial evidence to support the mandated use of these precautions, three noted infection prevention researchers say. Without the support of evidence, policy makers from 2000 to 2010 passed…

Read More

Editor's Note Trauma centers verified by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT) have fewer complications among pediatric, elderly, and severely injured patients, finds this study. The odds of experiencing any major complication were more than 3.0 times greater for elderly patients in trauma centers without ASC-COT verification…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on May 30 posted addendums to its Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 47: Radiation risks of diagnostic imaging. Risks associated with ionizing radiation in diagnostic imaging included cancer, burns, and other injuries. The addendums update broken links, resources, and references. Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 47: Radiation…

Read More

Healthcare is striving to become an industry of high-reliability organizations, and part of being a high-reliability industry means staying vigilant and identifying problems proactively. ECRI Institute’s annual Top 10 list helps organizations identify looming patient safety challenges and offers suggestions and resources for addressing them. ECRI Institute relied on event…

Read More