HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from March 2009

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from March 2009

Joint Commission paints detailed picture of 'Hospital of the Future': five core areas identified as targets for improvement.
March 1, 2009... The project was nothing if not ambitious; The Joint Commission assembled a blue-ribbon roundtable of experts--hospital executives, clinical leaders, and experts in technology, health care economics, hospital design, and patient safety--and...

Joint Commission report focuses on five core areas.
March 1, 2009... The following is a list of the five core areas identified in the white paper "Health Care at the Crossroads: Guiding Principles for the Development of the Hospital of the Future" and principles to be pursued by hospitals in each of those areas:...

How do you get from 'here' to 'there'?
March 1, 2009... No doubt quality managers are eager to sign on to many of the goals outlined in The Joint Commission's white paper, "Health Care at the Crossroads: Guiding Principles for the Development of the Hospital of the Future," but in a number of cases,...

Study: in ICU prophylactic antibiotics save lives: could practice contribute to drug resistance?
March 1, 2009... A recent study conducted in the Netherlands shows some positive results in the ICU when antibiotics are given to patients before any infection develops, (1) but it also raises a question that the researchers are not prepared to answer: whether...

Pain management model has safety advantages: developing inpatient pharmacy model is challenge.
March 1, 2009... Hospitals could improve the overall care of patients who are admitted for surgery, palliative care, or for diseases that result in chronic pain if they employ a pharmacist to assist with medication utilization and develop defined medication...

Experts discuss pain management issues: troubleshooting is big part of job.
March 1, 2009... Hospitals that have pain management teams with pharmacists on board benefit from having a medication specialist help improve safety and improve patient outcomes, experts say. It's a complex issue, says David Craig, PharmD, BCPS, clinical...

Communication with home care staff part of transition: problems may arise during transition.
March 1, 2009... The transition from hospital to home health can be a rocky one, which is why hospital discharge planners need to make communication with home health staff a priority, experts say. "Sometimes it doesn't seem as if anyone has been allowed...