HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement articles from September 2007

HealthCare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement archives from September 2007

NPSGs target anticoagulation therapy, patient deterioration; underlying processes key to satisfying Joint Commission standards.
September 1, 2007... The 2008 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs), recently published by The Joint Commission, contain two new goals, both of which have significant implications for hospital quality managers. The first, Goal 3E, states: "Reduce the likelihood of...

Solucient 'Top 100' hospital scores 'three-peat': leadership employs 'critical principles'.
September 1, 2007... When the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals were announced this year, Danbury (CT) Hospital was on the list--for the third year in a row. Hospital leaders say that for patients, this means a higher survival rate in certain medical procedures, fewer...

Danbury tackles MRSA with aggressive initiative.
September 1, 2007... Danbury (CT) Hospital, named to the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals list for three years running, establishes a set of quality initiatives each year that include aggressive plans for improvement. This year one of those initiatives focuses on...

Physician backing critical to QI turnaround: dramatic improvement in cardiovascular surgery.
September 1, 2007... In 2004, the mortality rates for several cardiac care areas (including bypass procedures, valve replacements, and treatment of heart attacks) at St. Dominic's-Jackson Memorial Hospital in Jackson, MS, were disappointing enough that the...

Simple test can prevent pneumonia after a stroke: aspiration is main pneumonia risk in stroke victims.
September 1, 2007... Millions of dollars and several hundred thousand lives could be saved if more hospitals followed a simple best practice--the swallow test--for stroke victims, assert researchers in a new study in the journal Neurology. (1) Aspiration, note...

Link seen between working conditions, infections: higher staffing numbers yield improved outcomes.
September 1, 2007... According to a study in the June 2007 issue of Medical Care, (1) hospitals that have better working conditions for nurses are safer for elderly ICU patients. The study, led by Columbia University School of Nursing researchers, measured rates of...

AHRQ launches on-line compendium.
September 1, 2007... As part of the Department of Health and Human Services Value-Driven Health Care initiative, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has launched a compendium of health care report cards. It is designed to provide health care...