HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from April 2005

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from April 2005

Top quality hospitals have higher survival rates, with sicker patients: winners say size or budget not necessarily a key to QI success.(quality improvement)
April 1, 2005... Key points * Patients in the highest quality hospitals have 12% to 20% better survival rates. * Many improvements were made, but there's a long road ahead to reach ultimate quality goals. * Benchmarking called the first step to...

Don't miss infection rate audio conference: state after state considering legislation.
April 1, 2005... Is your state next? Laws requiring disclosure of individual hospital infection rates are sweeping the nation. Four states--Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, and Missouri--have passed infection rate disclosure laws, and 20 others have introduced...

SBAR initiative to improve staff communication: tool was first developed, used by the military.(situation background assessment and recommendation)
April 1, 2005... Key Points * Poor communication seen as a root cause of many adverse events. * A pilot program will be conducted in the critical care unit as part of a totally new overall approach to quality. * Tool ultimately will become part of...

More than 40% of nurse errors not from medication: procedural errors, charting errors also significant.
April 1, 2005... Key Points * Minimizing distractions is seen as an important strategy for reducing nursing errors. * Errors and near errors for 393-nurse sample extrapolates to nearly 5,000 incidents per year. * Still relatively few hospitals use...

Norton Healthcare report will cover 200+ indicators: new publication to be most extensive of its kind.
April 1, 2005... Key Points * The publication on the web will include indicators from the National Quality Forum, Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Centers for Medicare &...

Cooperative uses grant to evaluate quality plan: joint venture will involve academic researchers.
April 1, 2005... Key Points * Ease of access as well as extensive electronic sharing of information characterize the program. * Physicians receive incentives based on measures of productivity, cost, and quality. * The model covers range of care,...

NQF publishes report on cardiac surgery measures.(National Quality Forum)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The National Quality Forum (NQF) has published a new set of national consensus standards, "National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Cardiac Surgery," which provides a standardized set of measures and framework for improving the quality of...

Overworked interns risk car crashes.
April 1, 2005... First-year doctors in training, or medical interns, who work shifts of longer than 24 hours are more than twice as likely to have a car crash leaving the hospital and five times as likely to have a "near miss" incident on the road as medical...

Minnesota Medicaid applies NCQA standards.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Health plans in the state of Minnesota accredited by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) will gain a new benefit under an agreement reached by the state and NCQA: The Minnesota Department of Human Services, the state's Medicaid...

Keystone project yields results in six months: hospital achieves significant improvements in ICU care.(intensive care unit)
April 1, 2005... By participating in a statewide patient safety program sponsored by the Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA), William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, MI, has seen significant improvement in a number of key areas of intensive care unit...