HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from February 2004

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from February 2004

Control charts: type of data plotted determines type of chart selected: selection is critical to having correct control limits for the data.
February 1, 2004... (Editor's note: This is the second in a series of articles on control charts. In the first article, presented in our January 2004 issue, we defined control charts and described the types of situations that lend themselves to the use of control...

Study: shorter stays don't reduce quality: quality indicators show significant improvement.
February 1, 2004... According to a study published in the Oct. 23, 2003, New England Journal of Medicine, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system has slashed the time veterans spend in the hospital by half without sacrificing quality of patient...

JCAHO strengthening its infection standards: renewed interest in HAIs spurs agency to action.
February 1, 2004... The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has approved revised standards to help prevent the occurrence of deadly health care-associated infections (HAIs). The standards retain many of the concepts embodied in...

Women's high CRP levels can predict hypertension: hypertension may be an inflammatory disease.
February 1, 2004... In an eight-year study of more than 20,000 women, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston have found for the first time that high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation proven to predict risk of heart...

WHO issues benchmarks on musculoskeletal ills: U.S. study builds foundation for first-of-kind data.
February 1, 2004... The Geneva-based World Health Organization WHO has released the Global Burden of Disease technical report, or Monitor Project as it is sometimes known, which for the first time involves the assessment and publication of benchmarks on...

AHRQ funding IT projects to boost safety, quality: applications sought for more than 100 grants.
February 1, 2004... AS part of a larger initiative to support investments in information technology in the nation's health care delivery system, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville, MD, is seeking applications for about 100 grants to...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
February 1, 2004... In the cover story of our October 2003 issue, we referred to Planar Systems' Invitium workstation as an example of point-of-care radiology. Planar clarifies: "Invitium is a POC workstation designed for patient bedside diagnostic testing,...