February 14, 2012
“The ultimate goal of this study was to help providers of healthcare within Pennsylvania acute care hospitals find solutions to the ever-present problem of the occurrence of medical errors. Scholarly literature states that the majority of medical errors occur due to systems that breakdown and fail healthcare workers. This study sought to provide new knowledge in regard to where one particular system may be breaking down, specifically the error reporting system. The purpose of this study was twofold; 1) to develop two structured interview questionnaires, and 2) to conduct structured interviews as a means to collect data that focused on the occurrence of medical errors; specifically through assessing the error reporting systems within a sample of Pennsylvania acute care hospitals.
This researcher investigates the procedures taken by healthcare administrators within Pennsylvania acute care hospitals with respect to the detection of medical errors in order to provide corrective measures. In response to structured interview questions, the overwhelming majority of research participants stated that the procedures for corrective actions focused upon various training interventions as deemed appropriate by management. However, scholarly literature states that the majority of medical errors do not occur due to the lack of competence, skills, or knowledge of healthcare professionals. Thus, using training interventions to solve non-training problems may not prove effective. The outcome of the study has lead to several important implications for the healthcare industry.”
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Prevention and control, Quality of care, Risk assessment, Safety | No Comments
November 16, 2011
“Objective: To determine whether patients who are not admitted to hospital after attending an emergency department during shifts with long waiting times are at risk for adverse events.
Conclusions: Presenting to an emergency department during shifts with longer waiting times, reflected in longer mean length of stay, is associated with a greater risk in the short term of death and admission to hospital in patients who are well enough to leave the department. Patients who leave without being seen are not at higher risk of short term adverse events.”
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Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Mortality rates, Risk assessment, Statistics & numerical data, Wait lists | No Comments
November 4, 2011
“Background: Many hospitals have adopted smoke-free policies on their property. We examined the consequences of such polices at two Canadian tertiary acute-care hospitals…
Results: Noncompliance with the policy and exposure to secondhand smoke were ongoing concerns. Peoples’ impressions of the use of tobacco varied, including divergent opinions as to whether such use was a bad habit or an addiction. Treatment for tobacco dependence and the management of symptoms of withdrawal were offered inconsistently. Participants voiced concerns over patient safety and leaving the ward to smoke.
Interpretation: Policies mandating smoke-free hospital property have important consequences beyond noncompliance, including concerns over patient safety and disruptions to care. Without adequately available and accessible support for withdrawal from tobacco, patients will continue to face personal risk when they leave hospital property to smoke.”
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Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Hospitals, Risk assessment, Safety | No Comments
September 21, 2011
The Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality aims to teach healthcare providers how to avoid the risks and pitfalls of electronic health care records.
“EHRs can offer many benefits to health care providers and their patients, including better quality of medical care, greater efficiencies, and improved patient safety. However, even if these benefits are achieved, you will almost certainly face some unanticipated and undesirable consequences from implementing an EHR. Such consequences are often referred to as unintended consequences.
Unintended consequences can undermine provider acceptance, increase costs, sometimes lead to failed implementation, and even result in harm to patients. However, if you learn to anticipate and identify unintended consequences, you will be in a better position to make effective decisions, clarify tradeoffs, and address problems as they arise.”
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Posted in Multimedia, READ Portal | Tagged with e-health, Health technology, Information technology, Risk assessment, Risk management | No Comments
August 5, 2011
“The North Wales Cancer Treatment Centre (NWCTC) has to deal with an increasing demand in the number of patients who require chemotherapy, with the escalating use of second line, third line, and additional treatment for many cancers. As a result, there is growing pressure on the chemotherapy unit to deliver treatment quickly, efficiently, and safely. Following guidelines from the Department of Health’s Manual for Cancer Services, we are constantly looking for ways to improve and develop the level of care provided at our center, and the process of receiving chemotherapy has been identified as an area of high risk. Therefore, a team was established to review and explore current practices at the NWCTC with the goal of implementing an improved process to minimize the risks of chemotherapy treatment.”
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Cancer, Patient-centered care, Quality improvement, Risk assessment, Risk management | No Comments
April 27, 2011
Four case studies document the progress achieved in the past five years by health care organizations that were early leaders in patient safety improvement. Their experience reflects an expansion of interventions from individual hospital units to whole facilities and delivery systems, including new settings such as home health care. Approaches include developing practical methods for training, coaching, and motivating staff to engage in patient safety work; designing effective tools and systems to minimize error and maximize learning; and leading change by setting ambitious goals, measuring and holding units accountable for performance, and sharing stories to convey values. Results include advancements in safety practices, reductions in serious events of patient harm, improved organizational safety climate and morale, and declines in malpractice claims. Keeping the commitment to patient safety has required sustained focus on making safety a core organizational value, a willingness to innovate and adapt, and perseverance in pursuing goals.
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Patient-centered care, Quality control, Risk assessment, Safety | No Comments
April 25, 2011
“Legislation is one of the most powerful weapons for improving population health and is often used by policy and decision makers. Little research exists to guide them as to whether legislation is feasible and/or will succeed. We aimed to produce a coherent and transferable evidence based framework of threats to legislative interventions to assist the decision making process and to test this through the ‘case study’ of legislation to ban smoking in cars carrying children.”
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Decision making, Evidence-based, Policy, Risk assessment | No Comments
January 26, 2011
Serious clinical crises happen to all organizations. Organizations that have a plan that they test and simulate are in a much stronger position when a crisis strikes. This article presents key elements of clinical crisis management and practical guidance to help organizational leaders develop effective plans for managing such events.
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Risk assessment, Risk management, Safety | No Comments
November 11, 2010
The purpose of this study was to present risk estimates for needlestick in U.S. paramedics and estimated risk ratios for selected management practices. Little is known about factors associated with risk of needlestick among paramedics. Most previous research examined hospital workers, whose risk and risk factors may differ from those of paramedics. The purpose of this report is to present updated risk estimates for needlestick in U.S. paramedics and estimated risk ratios for selected risk factors, with a focus on management practices.
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Health human resources, Risk assessment, Statistics & numerical data | No Comments
September 15, 2010
A predictive model of mortality in heart failure may be useful for clinicians to improve communication with and care of hospitalized patients. This study identified predictors of mortality and developed and validated a model using information available at hospital presentation. The project was a retrospective study of 4031 community-based patients presenting with heart failure at 34 hospitals in Ontario, Canada (2624 patients in the derivation cohort from 1999-2001 and 1407 patients in the validation cohort from 1997-1999), who had been identified as part of the Enhanced Feedback for Effective Cardiac Treatment (EFFECT) study.
Posted in Journal Articles, READ Portal | Tagged with Indicators, Mortality rates, Risk assessment, Statistics & numerical data | No Comments
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