HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from July 2006

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from July 2006

Rapid response teams can help reduce mortality, 'code' rates; IHI says as many as 1,600 facilities have signed up for campaign.
July 1, 2006... Key Points * Process gets help to patients further upstream, to detect signs of deterioration earlier. * It takes about six months to begin to see real results from rapid response teams. * Web site offers resources to quality...

System shows diversity in rapid response teams; facilities find ways to make the approach work.
July 1, 2006... Key Points * Some facilities get up and running quickly, while others take months to plan the program. * Smaller facilities must be especially creative, identifying all possible responders with the critical thinking necessary. *...

Recent study lauds automated surveillance; it may be superior to voluntary reporting.
July 1, 2006... Key Points * ADEs detected at a rate 3.6 times that of voluntary reporting at a university hospital and 12.3 times that at a community hospital. * Goal of system is not just to detect ADEs, but to measure whether they are being...

Massachusetts considering patients-per-nurse limits; nurses claim staffing levels can affect patient safety.
July 1, 2006... Depending on who you ask, the state of Massachusetts is either: a) on the verge of; or b) seriously considering following California's lead and limiting the number of patients who can be assigned to nurses. Potential legislation has been...

Wrong-site surgeries seen as rare, preventable: degree of harm was generally low.
July 1, 2006... Key Points * Number of wrong-site surgeries conducted on limbs or organs other than the spine occurred once in every 112,994 operations. * Degree of harm was low in the instances found in the study. * Hospitals seem to be confused...

Louisiana hospitals post price, quality data online; CMS, JCAHO measures used for initial postings.
July 1, 2006... Key Points * Legislature calls for more transparency between hospitals, patients. * Quality sections list the measure, condition, indicators, number of patients, and hospital score. * Hospital quality managers play important role...

Hospitals falling short on NQF's 30 'safe practices'; resources sometimes make progress difficult.
July 1, 2006... A first-of-its-kind study of a state's hospitals and their progress in implementing the National Quality Forum's "30 Safe Practices" has yielded some interesting results and, according to the authors, opened up some new benchmarking...

AHA survey highlights ED overcrowding issues; shortage of critical care beds cited.
July 1, 2006... Half of the nation's emergency departments (EDs) are at or over capacity, and a majority of hospitals have reported time on ambulance diversion, according to the American Hospital Association's 2006 Survey of Hospital Leaders. The most...

AHRQ study looks at admissions from ED.
July 1, 2006... Fifty-five percent of admissions to the nation's community hospitals for conditions other than pregnancy, childbirth, and neonatal care begin in the hospital emergency department, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reports. ...