Hospital Peer Review – August 1, 2010
August 1, 2010
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Quality of care during off-peak hours: Are you monitoring this?
From about 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday to Friday a hospital is a busy place with a host of clinical and administrative staff and department chairs and chiefs. But on nights and weekends, it's often quite different. -
Improving quality on off-peak hours
The traditional hospital system in which physicians are staffed during the day and on call at night is not the only model. And certainly, as the health care industry becomes more aware of the quality of care for the traditional off-peak shifts, that model could change quite radically in the future. -
CMS releases final meaningful use rule
They just happened to go public at about the same time the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS') final rule on "meaningful use" as part of the HITECH Act and The Leapfrog Group's study results on computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems and its subsequent call for action to monitor the safety of such systems and to develop best practices. -
Study shows 'troubling results' with CPOE alerts
Whether it's over-alerting or under-alerting, it's a problem. A number of studies have taken on computerized physician order entry (CPOE), but the latest findings from a Leapfrog Group study made public June 28 shows CPOE problems can lead to harmful or even fatal errors. -
Complying with TJC pain management standards
Have you revisited your pain policy? Are you auditing compliance? How will you fare when Joint Commission surveyors come to your facility? Hospital Peer Review spoke with three institutions about the challenges they faced, the interventions they made, and the successes they have seen. -
Update on TJC's focus on pain today
Paul Arnstein, RN, PhD, clinical nurse specialist for pain relief at Massachusetts General Hospital, is familiar with The Joint Commission's standards on pain. As president of the American Society for Pain Management Nursing and a liaison representing pain management, Arnstein recently attended an annual meeting with TJC.