Social media: Helping staff manage personal, professional boundaries
A 20-year-old nursing student, Emily, was excited to be on her pediatrics rotation and taking care of Tommy, a 3-year-old leukemia patient. One day, when Tommy’s mom was out of the room, Emily asked Tommy if she could take his picture. He readily agreed. When she got home, Emily excitedly…
A new "electronic etiquette" for surgical services
Nurses texting between—or even during—cases. Anesthesia providers playing games on their cell phones. A surgeon answering calls during surgery using his Bluetooth device. Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have introduced a brand of constant communication—and a management challenge. Banning the devices isn’t the answer. Instead, health care needs to…
Editorial
Where would you expect a patient to look to learn about the quality of your hospital’s services? Maybe the Joint Commission, Hospital Compare, or HealthGrades? Think Facebook, Google Reviews, or YouTube—that’s where many are likely to turn first. Social media increasingly are the go-to source for consumer reviews of any…
A new perspective on OR time-out
Sometimes it's all in a word. Struggling for compliance with the pause before surgery, a Michigan hospital tried changing the terminology, and that has made all the difference. Instead of "time-out," the new term is "patient safety briefing." Once the change was made, "we saw immediately that the focus changed,"…
Time to tone it down: Strategies for managing noise, distractions
"Our society has become a lot louder, and we tolerate a lot more noise," says Verna Gibbs, MD, director of NoThing Left Behind and professor of clinical surgery, University of California, San Francisco. That includes the OR, where phones, overhead pages, alarms, suction, ventilation equipment, medical devices such as drills,…
When staff speak up on safety, do managers listen--and act?
Checklists, time-outs, and other patient safety tools are supposed to make care safer. But what happens when a safety tool alerts a team to a problem that otherwise would have been missed and could harm a patient? Will team members speak up? The vast majority—85%—of nurses in a new study…
Wrong implants a theme in errors
Ophthalmology and orthopedics led the list of OR specialties with incorrect surgery in an analysis of 51⁄2 years of data from 130 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities. A wrong implant was the most common error type for both specialties, accounting for 22 of 45 ophthalmology events and 12 of…
Briefings head off communication failures
A structured OR team briefing before a case can dramatically reduce communication failures, a new study from Canada finds. In the study surgeons, nurses, and anesthesia providers held a short briefing guided by a checklist. Researchers documented communication problems before and after the briefings were implemented. Results showed communication failures…
ORs vary in how they do time-out, and many don't follow own policy
How ORs conduct time-outs varies widely—and facilities tend not to follow their own policies. These findings are part of a statewide project in Pennsylvania to learn how wrong-site surgery happens and how to prevent it. As part of the project, researchers observed one or more steps of 48 procedures at…
A time-out tool helps to improve compliance at the patient's bedside
The highest priority of any health care provider is to ensure patient safety. The single most important tool for preventing errors is the ability to communicate. According to the Joint Commission, the number one cause of sentinel events is a breakdown in communication among the surgical team, patient, and family.…
Free Daily News
- FDA medical device class 1 recalls trend upward
- Data cast doubt on recommendation to delay weight-loss meds prior to surgery
- AAMI guidance covers sterile processing of dilators, ultrasound probes
- Surgical site infections often caused by preexisting bacteria
- The Joint Commission launches new telehealth accreditation program
- FDA announces class 1 recall for disposable biopsy needle kit
- Report: Consistent, purposeful manager-team engagement reduces RN turnover
- Death, hospital readmission less likely for women treated by female doctors
- FDA announces class 1 recalls for infusion pumps, anesthesia workstation
- Study finds workforce readiness gap in new nurses