With two articles driving most of the discussion social media this week—a Forbes article on alarm fatigue and an announcement of FDA approval for a new treatment for deep vein thrombosis (DVT)—we wanted to highlight a few articles readers might not have seen yet.
Have a good long weekend!
National Coalition for Alarm Management Safety
The National Coalition for Alarm Management is a group of thought-leaders sharing information with other pioneers in the “alarm-management space,” driving improvement in alarm management nationwide, and seeking standardization where possible. Members come from all aspects of alarm management: the clinical community; industry; device regulators; hospital accreditors; and professional societies.
For more information on the National Coalition for Alarm Management and this month’s presentation, please click here.
Managing risk during transition to new ISO tubing connector standards
The Joint Commission issued Sentinel Event Alert 53 saying, “Tubing misconnections continue to cause severe patient injury and death, since tubes with different functions can easily be connected using luer connectors, or connections can be “rigged” (constructed) using adapters, tubing or catheters.”
Preventable hospital deaths after urological surgery rising
According to recent study, “As more urological surgeries are performed outside hospitals, deaths from preventable complications among men and women getting inpatient surgery have risen.”
Measuring Quality Promotes Hospital Quality
In a new blog post, Sabrina Corlette of the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms and Sarah Dash of the Alliance for Health Reform review the findings of their Commonwealth Fund brief assessing efforts among the state-based health insurance marketplaces to implement the Affordable Care Act’s quality improvement initiatives. They found that 13 marketplaces moved forward this year with at least one of the ACA’s quality-related provisions, such as collecting performance data or making such information public. Still, the authors say, these efforts may not have much of an effect on plan performance until consumers are able to compare and choose plans based on quality, or the marketplaces include only the highest-quality plans.
AHRQ offers guide to reduce Medicaid hospital readmissions
Reducing readmissions is a national priority for payers, providers, and policymakers seeking to improve health care and lower costs. Readmissions are a significant issue among patients with Medicaid.
To read the AHRQ guide, please click here.