Hospital Peer Review – March 1, 2021
March 1, 2021
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Best Practices for Recruiting Peer Review Committee Members
Well-run peer review committees are essential to maintaining high-quality performance for physicians and nurses, but recruiting for those committees can be challenging. Physicians and nurses may resist the time commitment or fear legal and professional repercussions from passing judgment on their peers. Those fears can be dispelled by educating physicians and nurses about the peer review process. Savvy recruiting techniques can help create effective peer review committees.
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Layers of Legal Protections for Peer Review Committees
A hospital’s executive and officers liability insurance usually will apply to peer review committee members. There also are protections under federal law providing immunity for participation, particularly the Healthcare Quality Improvement Act. There are state-level statutes to provide immunity, although those laws vary widely.
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Be Serious About Promoting Successes
Quality improvement professionals put a great deal of work in improving quality of care and patient safety, with projects both grand in scale and small but significant. But once an organization achieves success, how do leaders make sure the right people know about it?
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Insulin Pen Project Improves Patient Safety with EMR Modification
Staff at a Maryland hospital discovered a patient safety issue with insulin pens that was traced to the electronic medical record’s (EMR) inability to generate patient-specific labels efficiently. A root cause analysis revealed the process gaps, and staff developed a solution that ensures patients receive insulin doses only from their own pens.
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Diagnostic Errors Continue, Technology Part of Solution
Diagnostic errors continue to plague the healthcare system, but some progress is happening thanks to technology that can reduce the chance of an error reaching the patient and causing harm. Optimal results may require a more deliberate training program for those using the technology.