Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – April 1, 2005
April 1, 2005
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Top quality hospitals have higher survival rates, with sicker patients
The latest study from HealthGrades, an independent health care quality company based in Lakewood, CO, shines a bright light on the levels of outcome improvement achieved by the nations quality leaders. -
SBAR initiative to improve staff communication
Abington (PA) Memorial Hospital soon will be rolling out a pilot program for a planned SBAR (situation background assessment and recommendation) initiative the programs proponents say will improve communications and reduce errors at the facility. -
More than 40% of nurse errors not from medication
A recent study of errors and near errors by hospital staff nurses confirmed some pre-existing beliefs, but also contained some surprises, according to one of its authors. -
Norton Healthcare report will cover 200+ indicators
Norton Healthcare, a Louisville, KY-based organization that comprises four adult hospitals, a childrens hospital, and a number of physician groups, soon will start publishing what is said to be the most extensive self-published report card of its kind, posting on its web site about 200 indicators of clinical quality. -
Cooperative uses grant to evaluate quality plan
The University of Washington (UW) School of Public Health and Community Medicine in Seattle has received a two-year, $656,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to evaluate the impact of Group Health Cooperatives recent innovations to improve access and quality of care for its members. -
NQF publishes report on cardiac surgery measures
The National Quality Forum (NQF) has published a new set of national consensus standards, National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Cardiac Surgery, which provides a standardized set of measures and framework for improving the quality of cardiac surgery (which accounts for about 14,000 in-hospital deaths each year). -
News Briefs
First-year doctors in training, or medical interns, who work shifts of longer than 24 hours are more than twice as likely to have a car crash leaving the hospital and five times as likely to have a near miss incident on the road as medical interns who work shorter shifts, according to an article in the Jan. 13 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).