Tag: Safety

Trends, characteristics of health data breaches

Editor's Note Despite ethical and legal obligations to protect patient privacy and efforts to establish best practices for healthcare information security, breach rates have increased since 2010, this study finds. Of 2,149 breaches that involved 176.4 million records, the most common entities breached were healthcare providers, with 1,503 breaches that…

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By: Judy Mathias
October 2, 2018
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FDA announces framework for strengthening medical device cybersecurity

Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on October 1 released a “Playbook,” developed by the Medical Device Cybersecurity Regional Incident Preparedness and Response (MITRE) Corp, to assist hospitals and other healthcare providers respond to cybersecurity incidents involving medical devices, the American Hospital Association reports.  The MITRE Playbook outlines…

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By: Judy Mathias
October 2, 2018
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ECRI Institute releases 2019 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards

Editor's Note The ECRI Institute on October 1 released its 2019 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards. Among the hazards: First is cybersecurity attacks Second is blood and body fluids on mattresses after cleaning Third is retained sponges Fifth is mishandling flexible endoscopes after disinfection Ninth is cleaning fluid seeping into…

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By: Judy Mathias
October 1, 2018
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Study: Covering the instrument table decreases bioburden

Editor's Note A significant decrease in bacterial bioburden on the instrument table was found when the table was covered during static periods of nonuse and dynamic periods of active OR use in this study. Bacterial contamination of the instrument table was evaluated by settle plates in static and dynamic ORs,…

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By: Judy Mathias
September 27, 2018
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Effectiveness of pulsed-xenon light after terminal cleaning in the OR

Editor's Note When used after terminal cleaning, the pulsed-xenon ultraviolet light (PX-UV) significantly reduced contamination on high-touch surfaces in the OR, this study finds. This analysis included 1,464 surface samples from 136 ORs at 23 hospitals after terminal cleaning and again after PX-UV disinfection. Results showed the average colony forming…

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By: Judy Mathias
August 31, 2018
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Joint Commission revises requirements for medication compounding

Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on August 22 that several revisions will be implemented to the Medication Compounding Certification program and Home Care Accreditation program’s Medication Compounding chapter, effective January 1, 2019. The revisions were made to maintain consistency with current United States Pharmacopeia (USP) 795 (Pharmaceutical Compounding−Nonsterile Preparations)…

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By: Judy Mathias
August 23, 2018
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Munro Scale research supports streamlining risk levels

The Munro Pressure Ulcer Risk Assessment Scale for Perioperative Patients© (Munro Scale) has made great strides in the past year. The tool, which assesses patients’ risk levels at each phase of surgery (preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative), is available from AORN. Cassendra Munro, MSN, RN, CNOR, developed the Munro Scale and…

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By: Judith M. Mathias, MA, RN
August 21, 2018
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Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2018

As healthcare strives to become an industry of high-reliability organizations, identifying problems proactively is key. ECRI Institute’s annual Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations list highlights looming patient safety challenges and offers resources for addressing them. In selecting this year’s list, ECRI Institute relied on data regarding events…

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By: ECRI
August 21, 2018
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More than 3 million healthcare records breached in Q2

Editor's Note New data released in the Protenus Breach Barometer shows  more than 3.14 million patient records were compromised in 142 breach incidents reported to Health and Human Services or the media from April to June 2018, the August 8 Healthcare Informatics reports. This number is up from 1.13 million…

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By: Judy Mathias
August 10, 2018
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Joint Commission automates patient safety event phone line

Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced August 1 that beginning September 1, callers to its patient safety event phone line (1-800-994-6610) will receive automated instructions on how to file a report or concern. The line will no longer be answered by a staff member. The Joint Commission says the phone…

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By: Judy Mathias
August 2, 2018
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