FLU Vaccination

Announcing the launch of the 3rd Flu Vaccination Challenge!

• 8/17/2010
• Author: Flu Vaccination Challenge Team
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Summer is winding down, and flu season is approaching. And so is the launch of the 3rd annual Flu Vaccination Challenge, a nationwide effort to encourage health care workers to get vaccinated against the flu. Over one thousand health care organizations have participated in the campaign each year.  We are thrilled to announce the results from last year’s Challenge: participating health care org... more >>

Wrapping Up the 2009/10 Flu Vaccination Challenge

• 3/2/2010
• Author: Gina LaMantia
• 9177 Views
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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
• 10560 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 >>

The Source Blog

Safe Injection Practices Added to On-site Surveys

• 8/31/2010
• Author: Janet Pimentel
• 33 Views
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No matter how old I am, I can’t help but be afraid whenever I receive a shot from a nurse or physician. I have always hated the pinch of the needle and always will – no matter how nicely the nurse or physician talks to me or makes me laugh beforehand. But, my fears have another focus. Articles in recent years have described health care professionals causing outbreaks by reinserting used needles in... more >>

By Request, Continuum of Care Tracers Addressed

• 8/25/2010
• Author: Janet Pimentel
• 75 Views
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I enjoyed meeting several of our readers when I attended The Joint Commission Accreditation Summit this April in Lombard. A few summit attendees asked me to cover continuum of care tracers in the “Tracer Methodology 101” column in The Source. I’m happy to say that we delivered on that request in the August 2010 issue. In fact, Dr. Joel Yohai, senior vice president for medical affairs and chief med... more >>

Time to Comment on Preventing Surgical Site Infections

• 8/13/2010
• Author: Janet Pimentel
• 592 Views
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Whenever an accredited health care organization has an opportunity to comment on a standard or requirement, they should do so because their input can make a difference on what future changes are considered or ultimately made. So if you have any comments or input regarding surgical site infections, you’ll be interested to know that The Joint Commission wants to hear from you. In this situation, you... more >>

Benchmark Blog

Center for Transforming Healthcare Releases Targeted Solutions Tool

• 8/31/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 32 Views
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How can Six Sigma help to stop the spread of health-care associated infections? If you have heard about The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, you may also have heard that the Center is doing some interesting and innovative things using Lean, Six Sigma, and Robust Process Improvement ideologies. These performance improvement methods can be used to help solve some of health ca... more >>

Study Finds Medical Errors Cost United States Billions

• 8/25/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 72 Views
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Medical errors cost the United States billions of dollars in 2008 according to a new study commissioned by the Society of Actuaries (SOA).  The study’s findings, based on claims data, estimate that medical errors cost the U.S. economy $19.5 billion in both direct costs paid out as insurance claims, and indirect costs, such as lost worker productivity. In addition, of the approximately $80 ... more >>

One State Takes Steps to Improve Surgical Care

• 8/18/2010
• Author: Audrie Bretl Roelf
• 162 Views
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Several Florida hospitals have helped launch an initiative to improve patient safety and the quality of surgical care while reducing costs throughout the state. The Florida Surgical Care Initiative (FSCI), a joint venture of the Florida Hospital Association, the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and the ACS Florida chapter, is a statewide collaboration focusing on reducing surgical complicat... more >>

Perspectives on Patient Safety Blog

Joint Commission Seeks Comment on 2010 Universal Protocol

• 8/26/2010
• Author: Jim Parker
• 77 Views
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Accredited organizations now have the opportunity to tell The Joint Commission what they really think about the 2010 Universal Protocol. The Joint Commission is seeking public feedback on the 2010 Universal Protocol for Preventing Wrong-Site, Wrong-Procedure, and Wrong-Person Surgery™ for the Hospital, Critical Access Hospital, Ambulatory Care, and Office-based Surgery accreditation prog... more >>

H1N1 Pandemic Officially Ends

• 8/13/2010
• Author: Jim Parker
• 581 Views
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The H1N1 influenza pandemic that created great anxiety among health care organizations and the public for two years has ended, according to a statement released by Margaret Chan, M.D., director-general of the World Health Organization. Perspectives on Patient Safety covered the pandemic from its first stirrings to the moment of its greatest prevalence.  In February 2010, we published a s... more >>

New Fall Prevention Resource

• 8/6/2010
• Author: Jim Parker
• 991 Views
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  A fall for an elderly or severely ill or weakened patient can be deadly. Health care organizations have a responsibility to take steps to reduce the likelihood of falls in their facilities. This is the impetus behind The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal 9, requirement NPSG.09.02.01, which guides organizations’ fall prevention efforts.   Falls remain a serious patient safety... more >>

EC News Blog

Preparedness for Hazardous Materials Spills

• 9/1/2010
• Author: Kristine Miller
• 14 Views
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Sometimes while I’m driving home on the interstate that runs within a mile of my house, I’ll see these dark, murky-looking semis barreling along. If there were a Darth Vader of trucking, they would be it. And I wonder: what’s in those things? Some kind of toxic waste? Hazardous chemicals? Nothing good, that’s for sure. And then I think the next ugly thought. What if one of those things care... more >>

Preventing Falls—New Resource Available

• 8/11/2010
• Author: Kristine Miller
• 647 Views
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A fall for an elderly or severely ill or weakened patient can be deadly. Fall prevention is an implicit part of EC.02.01.01, which calls for organizations to manage safety risks in the environment. The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal 9, requirement NPSG.09.02.01, also guides organizations’ fall prevention efforts. To empower patients and help organizations reduce falls, The... more >>

Using Fans in Patient Care and Other Areas

• 7/14/2010
• Author: Kristine Miller
• 2404 Views
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It’s summer, and the heat is on—pretty much across the nation. Temps topping 92 here in the Midwest. Which doesn’t seem like much to you folks on the East Coast, who’ve been frying at triple digits. And those of you in the South and the Southwest just live with this all the time. And sometimes it seems like the A/C just isn’t cranking quite enough. So—can you plug in that good ol’ fan in p... more >>

The Journal Blog

Addressing the Issue of Violence in Health Care Facilities

• 6/17/2010
• Author: Steven Berman
• 3935 Views
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A new Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert, Preventing Violence in the Health Care Setting, warns that health care organizations and their patients and visitors are now confronting steadily increasing rates of crime, including assault, rape, and murder. The Alert advises that while it is imperative to control access to the facility and maintain ongoing surveillance of the ground... more >>

Safety of Test Result Follow-Up: Challenges, Progress, and More Challenges

• 5/15/2010
• Author: Steven Berman
• 5615 Views
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This week, Hardeep Singh and Meena S. Vij, the authors of “Eight Recommendations for Policies for Communicating Abnormal Test Results,”  which appeared in the May 2010 issue, are guests on the Journal blog. The evidence- and experience-based recommendations provided in the article are intended to help organizations ensure safe and timely abnormal test-result communicat... more >>

The Joint Commission Annual Conference on Quality and Patient Safety:

• 4/30/2010
• Author: Steven Berman
• 6510 Views
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A Preview of "Evidence-Informed Value Improvement" As you may know, The Joint Commission Annual Conference on Quality and Patient Safety will be held June 23–25 in Chicago. This conference will focus on organizational greatness and decisions and actions for health care executives seeking to improve quality, reduce errors, contain costs, increase p... more >>

Nurse Safety Scholar Blog on Pressure Ulcers

Education - Bridge to Prevention

• 8/27/2010
• Author: Diane Whitworth
• 133 Views
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Common gaps identified in all four project sites involve the education of the care delivery team in Pressure Ulcer Prevention. I use this term purposefully to capture not only the RN’s role, but also the interdisciplinary staff roles responsible for the production, or in this case, the positive outcomes. A critical component of pressure ulcer prevention is making sure the... more >>

Beginning My Journey as Nurse Safety Scholar

• 7/29/2010
• Author: Diane Whitworth
• 1506 Views
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Assuming my role as Nurse Safety Scholar has been both challenging and very rewarding. Meeting and working with the JCR-Hill-Rom steering committee has been a privilege. Their commitment to patient safety and health care quality is inspiring, and their dedication and focus is unrelenting. Irene, I cannot thank you enough for your guidance and friendship. What a remarkable WOCN you are! ... more >>

Lessons Learned

• 3/4/2010
• Author: Diane Whitworth
• 9236 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 misin... more >>

Learning Community Blog

A Risk Assessment for Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDROs)

• 7/2/2010
• Author: Learning Community Administrator
• 3152 Views
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You know that MDROs are a problem. But how do you accurately measure the effect of MDROs in your organization? A method used by many organizations to evaluate MDROs is a risk assessment. This involves assessing the number of infections caused by MDROs and also the processes that can lead to or prevent the development and transmission of MDROs among patients in your organization.Doing the risk ... more >>

JCR's NEW Virtual MDRO Learning Community

• 5/20/2010
• Author: Learning Community Administrator
• 4879 Views
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JCR is launching its inaugural Virtual Learning Community and invites all interested health care professionals and organizations to join this community. • The mission of the JCR Virtual Learning Community is to provide health care providers with valuable, practical information to help improve patient safety and quality of care. We welcome health care providers from any health care setting—hospit... more >>