Ensuring that you store medications, food items, lab specimens, blood, and other items and supplies at appropriate temperatures in cold storage is essential to ensure your patients receive safe and effective product. However, maintaining a record of these temperature measurements seem to confound a lot of organizations out there. We frequently observe incomplete refrigerator/freezer logs […]
In November 1999, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) published their landmark report on the medical error crisis in U.S. healthcare called To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System. This was followed in March 2001 with an IOM report on healthcare quality called Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st […]
January 2021 marks eighteen months since changes were initiated with more focus on NPSG 15.01.01, Reducing the risk of suicide. The changes in focus were in response to devastating statistics showing a trend of increasing rates of suicide. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WISQARS Leading Causes of Death Reports, in […]
The Joint Commission will be defining fall events in their Sentinel Event Policy starting January 1, 2021 to help address the need for more preventive fall measures. This new definition will be more closely aligned with established guidelines from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators™ and the National Quality Forum. The new definition will […]
CMS’s recently announced adoption of the final rule that will make changes to several regulatory requirements that affect hospitals, critical access hospitals and/or Ambulatory Surgery Centers. These changes will be phased in over the next two years. The first change removes the current requirements found at 416.52(a) for a H&P within 30 days of the […]
It is timely that in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that has gripped our nation, we celebrate our nation’s nursing professionals during Nursing Week (May 6-12). The normal accolades provided to our nursing professionals for their delivery of safe and effective patient care seem to fall short in the face of the current healthcare […]
As children, many of us were keenly aware of the dangers of monsters lurking under our beds and in our closets at night. Age and wisdom (and sometimes a flashlight wielding parent) soon dismissed these creatures as figments of our own imagination. However, as leaders in healthcare, we should realize that there are indeed monsters […]
While the month of December is often spent focusing on the holidays and time spent with Family and Loved ones, the end of December is often a time when we focus on reorganizing ourselves in preparation for the New Year both from a personal and work perspective. To help you along from a work perspective, […]
