Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – September 1, 2010
September 1, 2010
View Archives Issues
-
State-sponsored programs help PA hospitals reduce HAIs
In quality improvement circles, certain states have gained a reputation for excellence, and recent statistics out of Pennsylvania seem to indicate that this particular state's reputation is well deserved. A new report issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) shows a decline of 12.5% for overall health care-associated infection (HAI) rates at the state's acute care hospitals in 2009. -
Bar-code/eMAR combo reduces errors
A study of a patient safety strategy at Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital that incorporated bar-code verification technology within an electronic medication-administration system (bar-code eMAR) showed a significant reduction in errors, according to an article published in the May 6, 2010, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. -
Medical home model can be complementary
A health care model that seeks to improve quality while reducing costs is attracting more attention lately as the health care reform has made it a priority for pilot project funds. -
Medical home model helps DP process with care
Here's a common hospital discharge scenario: the patient is ready to be discharged home, and the hospital has a discharge planner or case manager who is prepared to call the patient's primary care physician (PCP) to discuss the patient's post-discharge care. But who does the discharge planner call? And will anyone respond to the call? -
Physicians use checklists for quality DP
Mistakes happen even to the best clinicians. This is why hospitals increasingly are relying on checklists and other tools to assist clinicians in the discharge process. -
What does DP do at patient EOL?
Hospitalized patients with terminal illnesses often feel abandoned by their physicians at the end of their lives. Their physicians might experience a lack of closure that is unsettling.