Supporting Safer Healthcare

HealthGrades has released its Fourth Annual America’s 50 Best Hospitals Report.  The report asserts: From 2006 through 2008, if all hospitals performed at the level of America’s 50 Best Hospitals: 164,964 Medicare deaths may have been prevented. 18,900 Medicare inhospital complications may have been avoided. The HealthGrades America’s 50 Best Hospitals Award designation recognizes hospitals [...]

Starting today, people seeking medical care in Ohio have a new tool to help them decide which hospital might be best for them. The Ohio Hospital Compare site opened January 1st.  In addition to measures already reported on the DHHS site Hospital Compare, consumers can find information on costs and average length of stay.  For example, I searched Ohio [...]

Dr. Val Jones from GetBetterHealth.com was recently interviewed by ABC News regarding the best ways to avoid becoming a victim of hospital errors. She also relates her own patient experience with misidentification.   (Note: If you do not have access to YouTube the video clip below will not display.)

Ever wonder about your chances of developing a serious post-op infection, or ending up with something accidentally left inside after surgery at your local hospital?   If your hospital is in New Jersey you now have a new way to look up that data, as well as other patient safety information.  The State of New Jersey Department of Health and Senior [...]

There is currently no federal requirement for reporting adverse events which occur during US hospital care.  Twenty-six states have some type of reporting requirement, but both the scope of data that must be reported, and the potential penalties for non-reporting, vary greatly. In December, 2008 the Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report outlining its findings in this regard: Adverse Events in Hospitals, State Reporting Systems.    [...]

Stop over at Kevin M.D. for a reminder that there are always two sides to a story.  Robert Ricketson relates his side of the infamous 2003 ”screwdriver” medical malpractice case, and the overwhelming impact it has had on his life. If nothing else, his account strongly supports the need for an accurate surgical time-out, assuring that [...]

Business consultant Tom Peters publicized the acronym MBWA in the 1980′s – Management By Wandering Around.  It’s always been a favorite of mine.  I worked for a hospital CEO a number of years ago who personified the style.  It was common to see him in the hallway chatting with employees.  He knew our names; he often knew the [...]

 Healthcare is all about transparency these days.  Most organizations strive to increase openness to error disclosure, both internally and externally.  Leadership confidently promises a non-punitive environment because evidence proves that most errors are the result of process flaws, not human inefficiency.  “Report errors, how can we fix what we don’t know is broken?”  It’s all good, right? Well, humans being human and all, is a non-punitive environment [...]

“Your child was harmed while under my care, by a mistake that I made, and I am so sorry.”  How would it feel to hear those words?  How would it feel to say those words?  How would you help coach a healthcare professional who was about to face that conversation? I had the opportunity to explore all of those [...]

 What happens when an object is unexpectedly left inside a patient after surgery?  In some cases patients suffer no adverse effects, in others life-threatening complications can develop.  In a effort to avoid this problem and enhance patient safety, various items used during surgery are counted before and after a procedure.  While it seems that process should solve the problem, statistics [...]