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While the details of health care reform were uncertain at press time, one point is clear: Change will be coming to outpatient surgery regardless, and providers need to be prepared.
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In a likely prelude to a battle over mandating a swine flu vaccine, the New York State Health Department overrode nursing union protests recently in enacting an emergency regulation requiring seasonal flu shots for health care workers (HCWs).
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Outpatient surgery managers in hospitals, surgery centers, and offices still have a lot of questions about The Joint Commission's (TJC's) National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) on reducing the risk of health care-acquired infections, despite the fact that this goal must be fully implemented in a few short months.
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With a vaccine shortage projected for novel H1N1 influenza A, only the highest priority groups are likely to be offered the shot when initial lots are cleared for distribution this fall.
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Hospital systems traditionally have been unaware of the financial benefits of having clinical pharmacists providing care interventions. Everyone has agreed there are safety and quality improvement advantages to dedicating resources to clinical pharmacy salaries, but the cost savings were overlooked.
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One key to any electronic documentation tracking system is that it employs numbers that are meaningful to those using the program.
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New York Hospital Queens in Flushing, NY, adopted an electronic order entry system around the same time it implemented an electronic medication management and tracking program.
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Hospital and pharmacy leaders will be focusing more attention on antimicrobial stewardship in 2010 as this area is expected to receive increased regulatory scrutiny.
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While it's important to have a good medication management tracking tool, the data collected isn't useful unless it's used to improve patient safety and outcomes, experts say.
