Healthcare Benchmarks and Quality Improvement Archives – January 1, 2010
January 1, 2010
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Wide-ranging collaborative drives improvement in patient safety
A broad collaborative covering numerous hospitals in Tennessee has implemented an impressive patient safety initiative for which results were just reported in the Journal of Rural Health. -
Initiative leads to new patient safety center
Encouraged by the success of a patient safety initiative for rural hospitals (see cover story), Bill Jolley, MPA, vice president of the Tennessee Hospital Association (THA), has spearheaded the creation of the Tennessee Center for Patient Safety, which has "Allowed us to continue our work, not only with this project, but to expand into looking at infections and other areas of patient safety." -
Hand-washing compliance goes from 33% to 95%
If at first you don't (totally) succeed, keep trying . . . That should be the motto of the quality leaders at Bay Medical Center in Panama City, FL. Not content with QI efforts that boosted their staff hand-washing compliance from 30%-33% to 65%-75%, they implemented additional strategies that got compliance all the way up to 95%. -
Reduce one-day stays when observation is better
Hospitals sometimes fail to transition patients to the optimal level of care, which can create issues with quality of care and reimbursement. -
Pharmacists can assist in fall prevention programs
When St. John Medical Center of Tulsa, OK, started a fall prevention program in 2006, the group included a pharmacist. -
Repeat chronic pain visits reduced from 19 to two
Six out of the top 10 chief complaints of frequent ED users are related to pain, according to a new study. -
To improve health literacy, follow QI model
The way the Group Health Plain Language Network approaches work is based on quality improvement models, according to Kimberly Wicklund, MPH, manager of health information & promotion at Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. -
Put a stop to registration delays; make these changes
Registration delays mean poor customer service scores for access which in turn means big headaches for patient access directors. -
News Briefs
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) annual release of state-by-state quality data continues to give states mixed reviews for the quality of care they provide.