Tag: Safety

Joint Commission updates sentinel event stats for 2017

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 28 announced the update of its sentinel event statistics for 2017. Of 805 reports reviewed, the Top 10 events most frequently reported included: unintended retention of a foreign body−116 events (first place) wrong-patient, wrong-site, wrong-procedure−95 events (third place) medication error−32 events (eighth place)…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
March 1, 2018
Share

FDA issues Safety Alert for clarithromycin

Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 22 issued a Safety Alert for clarithromycin (Biaxin) because of the potential increased risk of heart problems or death associated with this antibiotic in patients with heart disease. A large clinical trial with 10-year follow-up found an unexpected increase in…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
March 1, 2018
Share

Study: Efficiency, safety of overlapping surgery

Editor's Note In this study to evaluate the efficiency and safety of overlapping surgery at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, researchers found that the practice does not expose patients to increased risk of negative outcomes. Of 26,260 cases analyzed for surgical time and 15,106 for outcomes, overlapping surgery patients had:…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
February 27, 2018
Share

Association between safety culture and surgical outcomes

Editor's Note In this study, implementing a global change in safety culture resulted in a significant change in surgical patient outcomes as measured by the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). After implementation of initiatives targeting communication and patient safety, surgical outcomes and culture scores…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
February 20, 2018
Share

NPDB launches hospital attestation initiative

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 14 announced that the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) has launched a new initiative for US hospitals to complete their attestation when renewing their NPDB registrations. The NPDB is a repository of reports on medical malpractice payments and adverse actions related to healthcare…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
February 16, 2018
Share

Johns Hopkins allowing animal-assisted therapy in ICU

Editor's Note Bringing specially trained dogs into ICUs can safely and substantially ease patients' physical and emotional pain, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. Having seen how successful animal-assisted therapy was in the inpatient rehabilitation unit at Johns Hopkins, the researchers adapted the hospital’s protocol to safely bring dogs to ICU…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
February 13, 2018
Share

Association of injury location to mortality

Editor's Note Injury scene characteristics are linked to mortality, with odds of death highest for those injured in communities with higher median age or lower per capita income, and located farther from level 1 or 2 trauma centers, this study finds. This study of 16,082 patients found the odds of…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
February 9, 2018
Share

FDA: New imaging technology promises stable supply of imaging isotope

Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Scott Gottlieb, MD, on February 8 announced the role the FDA played in the groundbreaking effort to develop a new imaging technology−the RadioGenix System. The technology, which resulted from a collaboration across the federal government and industry, has the potential to…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
February 9, 2018
Share

New brochure focuses on HAI prevention

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on January 31 announced that a new brochure is available to help healthcare organizations inform patients about healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and prevention. The brochure, titled, “For Our Patients and Their Visitors: Help Prevent Infections,” is derived from the resource, “Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
February 6, 2018
Share

New ECRI Institute resource provides solutions for IV-minibag shortage

Editor's Note The ECRI Institute on January 19 announced the release of a special Health Devices guidance article featuring recommendations and alternative solutions for dealing with the IV-fluid minibag (50-250 mL) shortage that resulted form Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The guidance provides a functional equivalence chart for IV solution…

Read More

By: Judy Mathias
January 23, 2018
Share

Join our community

Learn More
Video Spotlight
Live chat by BoldChat