Hospital Peer Review 2006-06-01

Can you demonstrate how your rapid response team has impacted care?

Is your organization's rapid response team getting enough calls? Are the calls coming early enough to make a difference? Are outcomes such as mortality rates improving?

Is your facility prepared for surveyor imposters?

A group of well-dressed people walk into the main entrance of a southern California hospital and announce they're going to do a walk-through before a JCAHO survey. In another California facility, a professional-looking man comes to the lobby and explains that he is with JCAHO and needs access to several clinics.

Are you collecting data you don't really need?

In the process of collecting restraint data, you learn that certain physicians are not signing daily orders. Other data being collected show that patient education is being documented 97 times out of 100.

Patient Satisfaction Planner: ED quadruples patient satisfaction rankings

In the third quarter of 2001, the ED at Methodist Medical Center of Illinois, Peoria, ranked in the 17th percentile in patient satisfaction surveys by Press Ganey Associates in South Bend, IN. By the end of 2003, that number had risen incredibly to the 95th percentile.

Patient Satisfaction Planner: Diabetes care program addresses specific needs

Project Dulce, a diabetes care management program housed at Whittier Institute for Diabetes in La Jolla, CA, has successfully addressed not only the difficult challenge of helping patients manage their diabetes, but also another issue of growing concern to quality managers: improving outcomes among minority populations.

Patient Satisfaction Planner: Customer service key to patient satisfaction

Anyone who works in retail knows that customer satisfaction is the key to repeat business, leading to a more successful financial future.

Accreditation Field Report: JCAHO wants hospital leaders involved in quality

Information management, communication, quality improvement, and staffing. These were four key areas of focus during a recent unannounced JCAHO survey at Harbor Hospital in Baltimore. "Surveyors noted our hospital's readiness and longevity and experience of staff.

Are tubing errors harming patients at your facility?

Tubing from a portable blood pressure monitoring device is inadvertently connected to a patient's intravenous (IV) line, and a fatal air embolism results.

The Quality - Cost Connection: Preplanning improves survey data

There are many techniques used in a health care organization to gather information about performance. One of the most commonly used instruments is the opinion survey.

Hospital Peer Review – June 1, 2006

June 1, 2006