FLU Vaccination

Wrapping Up the 2009/10 Flu Vaccination Challenge

• 3/2/2010
• Author: Gina LaMantia
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The time has come to wrap up the Flu Vaccination Challenge. I hope you have found this forum helpful in encouraging your staff to be vaccinated. It’s time to submit your results. Please click on the link on the www.FluVaccinationChallenge.com home page to submit your results to Joint Commission Resourc... more >>

True or False? February is too late for a Flu Shot

• 2/3/2010
• Author: Gina LaMantia
• 1565 Views
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  False! Historically, the highest incidence of seasonal flu is in February. Please use this and other seasonal flu facts in creative ways to get your staff vaccinated. It’s not too late! Please refer back to our discussion from November about the myths associated with seasonal flu.   February is also Valentine’s Day. What... more >>

January Blog Posting

• 1/7/2010
• Author: Gina LaMantia
• 3135 Views
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Happy New Year! Resolutions Your Staff Can Easily Fulfill   It’s officially 2010, and time for all of us to make our New Year’s resolutions for the year. Encourage your staff to put protecting themselves and their patients from seasonal flu at the top of their list. Think of creative ways to get your staff involved and v... more >>

The Source Blog

Field Review Postponed for Revised Medication Reconciliation Requirement

• 2/11/2010
• Author: Janet Pimentel
• 1009 Views
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Those of you interested in commenting on the revised Medication Reconciliation National Patient Safety Goal, also known as NPSG.08.01.01, will need to wait just a little while longer. The Joint Commission originally planned to post this revised NPSG in February so health care organizations could share their opinions, but has decided to postpone it so an advisory board and board committee can revie... more >>

Smoke-free Campus Trend Growing

• 2/1/2010
• Author: Janet Pimentel
• 1583 Views
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I don’t know if you heard, but a Joint Commission-accredited hospital in Chattanooga, Tennessee has decided to stop hiring workers who smoke. The hospital has been a smoke-free campus since around 2008, but hospital leaders decided to implement a smoker-free hiring policy beginning this month (February) because they think a hospital should set a healthy example for its community. The new rule won’... more >>

New Survey Agenda Process Allows Flexibility

• 1/25/2010
• Author: Janet Pimentel
• 2121 Views
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I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, but The Joint Commission is implementing a new approach for developing the agenda for on-site surveys that is more customer friendly. The survey agenda will still look similar to what it has been in the past; no survey activities are changing. The major change is that The Joint Commission will inform organizations before their survey about the survey length and th... more >>

Benchmark Blog

A Voice from the Field

• 3/11/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 130 Views
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I try as much as I can in Benchmark to include columns from those in The Joint Commission who know the real scoop on performance measurement and improvement. In the May/June issue, I will include a column from Jerod M. Loeb, Ph.D., executive vice president, Division of Quality Measurement and Research. It’s called “Performance Measurement: The Good, Bad, and The Ugly,” so you know he’s g... more >>

Professional Interpreters Increase Patient Satisfaction

• 3/6/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 85 Views
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Mathematica Policy Researchers asked the question, “Does using professionally trained interpreters in the emergency department (ED) increase patient satisfaction?” Up until now, research on this topic has been sparse, so Mathematica conducted its own study using random assignment to compare the reported satisfaction of patients and providers during 424 ED visits, roughly half of which included... more >>

Does Pay For Performance Impact Low Performing Physicians?

• 2/25/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 257 Views
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Most of us have heard of pay-for-performance (P4P) programs and are familiar with their impact on high-performing physicians – they are obviously recognized for their hard work. But do these programs help motivate low-performing physicians? The short answer is yes. A number of studies have come out recently stating that P4P works to boost low-performing physicians and turn their performance ar... more >>

Perspectives on Patient Safety Blog

Patient Safety Awareness Week

• 3/10/2010
• Author: Jim Parker
• 51 Views
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This is Patient Safety Awareness Week, an annual observance designed to raise awareness of patient safety issues in the United States. This year’s theme underscores the critical importance of communication in providing quality health care: “Let’s Talk: Healthy Conversations for Safer Health Care.” Without quality communication, even the most perfectly executed technical skills and most advance... more >>

Nomination Season Begins for 2010 Eisenberg Awards

• 3/3/2010
• Author: Jim Parker
• 89 Views
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The Joint Commission is now accepting nominations for the 2010 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards. Award submissions will be due at The Joint Commission by close of business April 12, 2010. The Eisenberg Awards recognize major achievements of individuals and organizations in improving patient safety and health care quality. The Joint Commission a... more >>

Educate Patients about Dangerous Drug Interactions

• 2/11/2010
• Author: Jim Parker
• 1166 Views
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In late January the Associated Press and other media outlets reported that 13 hospitals in California were fined for patient safety violations by that state’s Department of Public Health. Each fine was in excess of $25,000. The most frequently occurring violations, nearly 30% of the total, involved medication errors.   Although not every adverse event will receive the media coverage garn... more >>

EC News Blog

Management Plans

• 3/13/2010
• Author: Kristine Miller
• 32 Views
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More and more of you are working in health care organizations that offer several types of care. For example, your organization may encompass hospital and long term care settings. Or maybe it’s hospital and behavioral health care. Or maybe it’s hospital, long term care, and behavioral health care. Whatever the mix, here’s the question: When you sit down to write your EC management plans, do... more >>

Controlled Areas

• 3/2/2010
• Author: Kristine Miller
• 147 Views
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What constitutes a sensitive area in a health care facility—one that should be controlled by keys, key card access, or some other method? The Joint Commission doesn’t specify or recommend to organizations which areas should be designated as sensitive. Instead, it’s up to the organization to decide that. How does an organization decide? By performing a proactive risk assessment that eval... more >>

Illinois Earthquake

• 2/23/2010
• Author: Kristine Miller
• 490 Views
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So I was sleeping peacefully in my bedroom in the western suburbs of Chicago when, suddenly, a loud grinding noise shook the whole house. I popped awake. The cats bolted off the bed. It sounded—and felt—like a very large truck had hit the building. What was that? my semi-conscious mind demanded. And another part of my brain answered with certainty: That was an earthquake. And so it was. An ... more >>

The Journal Blog

Incident Reporting Still Lacking Among Many Doctors-in-Training

• 3/13/2010
• Author: Steven Berman
• 36 Views
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To follow up on my previous blog, the deficiencies in patient safety education described in the Lucian Leape Institute report, Unmet Needs: Teaching Physicians to Provide Safe Patient Care, are reflected in another Journal article—cited yesterday in an article in the New York Times, “Learning to Keep Patients Safe in a Culture of Fear” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/health/11chen.html?emc=... more >>

Quality and Patient Safety Education Needs for Physicians—and Nurses

• 3/12/2010
• Author: Steven Berman
• 28 Views
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On March 11, 2010, the Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation released a report that finds that medical schools are failing to do an adequate job of “facilitating student understanding of basic knowledge and the development of skills required for the provision of safe patient care,” resulting in greater risk to patients. Lucian L. Leape, M.D., chair of the Institute, ... more >>

Radiation Hazards and Challenges in Reporting Adverse Events: A Human Factors Perspective

• 3/5/2010
• Author: Steven Berman
• 136 Views
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In his January 29, 2010 guest blog, Kurt Herzer commented on the two recent investigative articles in the New York Times on the incidence and impact of rare accidents in radiation therapy. Shortly after, the American Society for Radiation Oncology issued a six-point plan for improving safety and quality and reducing the chances of medical errors—including working with oth... more >>

Nurse Safety Scholar Blog on Pressure Ulcers

Lessons Learned

• 3/4/2010
• Author: Irene Jankowski
• 79 Views
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My final month as the JCR/Hill-Rom Nurse Scholar is here and I leave this project with a greater appreciation for the hard work that nurses and nursing assistants do every day as they provide the best possible care for their patients. Every day, nurses all over the world are faced with more and more responsibilities. Nurses work hard to protect patients from misinformatio... more >>

Diagnosing a pressure ulcer: Barrier to prevention?

• 1/13/2010
• Author: Irene Jankowski
• 2688 Views
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Diagnosing a pressure ulcer: Barrier to prevention? Correctly diagnosing a pressure ulcer can be complicated. In fact there are times when even the wound care experts are unsure of the etiology of a wound, causing debate over whether or not to refer to a wound as a pressure ulcer. Questions arise when a clear history of the wound is not obtainable, or w... more >>

The Physician's Role in Preventing Pressure Ulcers

• 10/16/2009
• Author: Irene Jankowski
• 8386 Views
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It is well accepted that doctors have a role in the treatment of pressure ulcers, but what about prevention? I’ve been reviewing various hospitals’ pressure ulcer prevention programs and am struck by what I see as an important team member who seems to be absent—doctors. Do doctors have a role in pressure ulcer prevention? Are doctors on... more >>