Lean management in a teaching hospital’s otolaryngology OR improved efficiency, morale, and finances in a study from the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor. After 18 months: • turnover time (from exit of one patient to arrival of the next) fell by nearly one-third to 29 minutes • turnaround time…
Staff in the cardiovascular OR area of the new Sheikh Zayed clinical tower at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore will be able to locate certain equipment via computer and use a Skype-like camera system to share images of instruments and supplies with the sterile core and sterile processing unit.…
With patient safety as its primary goal, the University of Michigan Health System has created a new process using bar-coded sponges and electronic radiology orders to ensure no items are unintentionally left in a patient during surgery. Electronic orders provide for a standardized process that not only is safer but…
A systemwide focus on supply chain management is helping Sutter Health, a large, Sacramento, California-based health system, to improve its financial performance by adopting best practices and taking a contemporary approach to strategic sourcing, value analysis, and logistical support. The target: Trim $200 million from expenses by 2012, and they’re…
For the first time, cardiac catheterization laboratory personnel have a document defining best practices, including time-outs, infection prevention, and preprocedure checklists. The statement, from The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), issued in March 2012, is the first to represent consensus on the operation of cath labs, the lead…
Hospitals now have the flexibility under federal law to include practitioners other than physicians on their medical staffs. That’s one provision of Medicare’s revised Conditions of Participation (COP) for hospitals and critical access hospitals, which take effect July 16, 2012. The revision is the first major overhaul of the COPs…
With the early issuance of quality reporting codes for Medicare, both ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have a chance to develop expertise in their use and to resolve any technical problems before the mandatory start date of October 1, 2012. And that…
Imagine sitting through a discussion with a surgeon or nurse and not understanding a single word—or worse, misinterpreting key information. Unfortunately, that’s the situation for many patients and their families because millions of people in the US have insufficient health literacy skills. A review in the American Journal of Surgery…
