Promoting patient safety and improving the quality of patient care
Tag: The Joint Commission
by Sean Power
In honor of Patient Safety Awareness Week last week, the Premier Safety Institute gathered experts on opioid safety to participate in a webinar discussion. The panel, moderated by Gina Pugliese, RN, MS, vice president, Premier Safety Institute, Premier Inc., featured several authorities on opioid safety, including: Continue reading “Perspectives on Opioid Safety and Continuous Electronic Monitoring”
by Sean Power
December 12, 2013
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health and Safety released their findings from the First National Survey on Patient-Controlled Analgesia (PCA) Safety Practices. Continue reading “3 Questions About Patient Safety and PCA with Brian and Cindy Abbiehl from A Promise to Amanda Foundation”
by Sean Power and Michael Wong
Alarm fatigue and nuisance alarms put patient safety at risk. The Joint Commission’s Sentinel Event Alert on alarm safety states that between 85 percent and 99 percent of alarm signals do not require clinical intervention — and these nuisance alarms desensitize clinicians. Continue reading “For Improving Patient Safety and Reducing Nuisance Alarms, Evidence Points to Revising Default Settings”
by Sean Power
Researchers have found that the majority of adverse events that happen during opioid infusions in children occur in patients not being treated by clinicians in acute pain service, according to an article by Michael Vlessides in Anesthesiology News.
According to the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, many different types of procedures may require a patient who is a child to stay still or may cause them discomfort if no anesthesia is used. For example, procedures such as MRI scans require the child to be completely still to ensure adequate quality of the scans. Continue reading “Children Undergoing Sedation Need Better Monitoring”
by Sean Power
With half of 2013 behind us, we took some time to reflect on the patient safety articles we’ve shared with this community. This reflection made us think about articles we haven’t shared–articles about which we wanted to write but did not have the bandwidth to do so at the time.
With that, I’d like to share four articles we think should be read by healthcare professionals working with patient-controlled analgesia. Continue reading “4 Patient Safety Articles We Recommend”
Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety nominates the respiratory care department of Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas, for RT Magazine’s “Best of Care” award. Continue reading “Wesley Medical Center Nominated for Best of 2013 Respiratory Care: Improves Patient Safety By Reducing Opioid-Related Adverse Events to Zero”
by Sean Power
When The Joint Commission released its Sentinel Event Alert 50 on medical device alarm safety in hospitals it produced an infographic about the issue. The infographic summarizes the scope of the problem, shares data about reported alarm safety events, and offers recommendations to address the issue. The ECRI Institute also has a poster on alarm safety with recommendations for improving alarm management.
Let’s take a look at both resources. Continue reading “Two Resources on Alarm Safety from The Joint Commission and the ECRI Institute”
Three lessons learned about alarm fatigue and better alarm management – (1) to reduce alarms turn to John Hopkins research, (2) patient surveillance monitoring improves patient safety, (3) reducing leads can reduce alarms by 22%.
According to The Joint Commission, alarm fatigue occurs when clinicians become desensitized or immune to the sound of an alarm. Fatigued clinicians may:
Any of these actions may jeopardize patient safety. Continue reading “Three Lessons Learned to Reduce Alarm Fatigue and Improve Alarm Management in Hospitals”
by Sean Power
The recent death of Helen Bousquet after what is being described by her son, Brian Evans, as “a basic routine procedure” at a hospital 40 minutes north of Boston highlights the need for better monitoring of patients after surgery. Mr. Evans is accusing the hospital of criminal negligence, according to an exclusive interview with Valley Patriot, as a result of how his mother’s visit to the hospital was handled by staff. Continue reading “Woman’s Death After Knee Surgery Calls Attention to Need for Better Monitoring”
by Sean Power
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety presented at the International Anesthesia Research Society’s Annual Meeting in San Diego, California to discuss the latest advances in research and best practices in anesthesia clinical care. For a handout version of the poster presentation, please click here.
In its August 2012 Sentinel Event Alert, The Joint Commission warned: Continue reading “PPAHS Presents PCA Safety Checklist at IARS Annual Meeting”