Promoting patient safety and improving the quality of patient care
Tag: Patient Safety
Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety invites participation in the first national survey of patient-controlled analgesia practices.
If you are a physician, nurse, respiratory therapist, pharmacist, or other healthcare provider, to take part in this brief national survey on PCA practices (which is only open to healthcare providers), please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PCAhospitalsurvey
by Sean Power
Patient safety checklists help to make sure no procedural step is forgotten. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, checklists are theoretically sound and have contributed to advances in patient safety. Continue reading “5 Benefits of Adopting Patient Safety Checklists”
by Sean Power
What are Never Events?
Never Events are 28 preventable actions or mistakes that should never happen in a health care setting, which include: Continue reading “5 Questions Answered about Never Events and Patient-Controlled Analgesia Pumps”
by Michael Wong
(This article is reprinted with the permission of Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH).)
This is the question that I have been asking myself ever since Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced proposed quality measures it is considering for adoption through rule making for the Medicare program. Continue reading “Does CMS Proposed Measure for PCA Safety Go Far Enough?”
At the recent Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) 24th Annual National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care.
The presentation focused on The Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert on safe use of opioids in hospitals, which states:
“While opioid use is generally safe for most patients, opioid analgesics may be associated with adverse effects, the most serious effect being respiratory depression, which is generally preceded by sedation.”
This article is reprinted with the permission of Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH). Improving patient safety is one of the most urgent issues facing healthcare today. PSQH is written for and by people who are involved directly in improving patient safety and the quality of care.
According to ECRI Institute, an independent, nonprofit organization that researches the best approaches to improving the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of patient care, alarm hazards are the number-one health technology hazard for 2013. Continue reading “Four Technology Recommendations to Reduce Alarm Fatigue”
(These are excerpts of the poster presentation made at the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists. It is reprinted with permission.)
Introduction
Preventable deaths in hospitals remain a major public health hazard worldwide. Analysis of registries for cardiopulmonary arrests (CPA) identified missed vital signs and symptoms of decompensation and spurred the development of RRT and MET teams. Although widely adopted, their impact on overall hospital morbidity and mortality remains unclear.
‘Alarm fatigue’, where poor ergonomics, integration and response to alarms on medical devices desensitizes providers to alarms was identified by the ECRI as the top health technology hazard for 2012, causing 500+ preventable deaths . The FDA, JC, AAMI, and ACCE have joined forces to remedy this patient safety hazard. Continue reading “Respiratory Depression: The Common Fatal Pathway for “Non Fatal” Conditions”
Each year, Harvard University hosts one of the leading forums on patient safety, quality enhancement and medical error reduction. This year Michael Wong attended the forum, The Eleventh National Quality Colloquium, to present on our PCA Safety Checklist, which targets use of patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). Continue reading “PPAHS at Harvard Patient Safety Colloquium”
By Sean Power and Michael Wong
This article is reprinted with the permission of Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH). Improving patient safety is one of the most urgent issues facing healthcare today. PSQH is written for and by people who are involved directly in improving patient safety and the quality of care. Continue reading “Patient Safety Checklist Helps Address Opioid Warnings from TJC: Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety checklist supports Sentinel Event Alert on opioid hazards”
Project Health Radio recently interviewed Michael Wong, a health and safety advocate and founder of the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS). In this interview, Mr. Wong discussed four patient safety questions to ask when using Patient-Controlled Analgesia (PCA) pumps to manage pain.
Project Health Radio is a non-profit, Chicago-based national health communications organization specializing in producing and distributing information on health and well being. Their talk shows are nationally syndicated programs broadcast on 106 stations across the country, including WKQX (Q101, Chicago, WAAF (Boston), WWLE (New York), KALI (Los Angeles), KSJX (San Francisco/San Jose).
In this interview, Mr. Wong reminded listeners of the benefits of using patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps: Continue reading “Four Patient Safety Questions to Ask When Using Patient-Controlled Analgesia (PCA) Pumps”