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Feelings of abandonment on the part of patients and their caregivers are not uncommon as they transition from treatment to end-of-life care, according to a recent study completed by a team at the University of Washington.
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Boutique; concierge; retainer. These are all words used to describe physician practices that charge patients an annual fee for access. And while there don't appear to be firm numbers on such practices, some say they are meeting an important need in a broken health care system.
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[Editor's note: This is Part 2 of an article that appeared in the April 1, 2009, issue of Medical Ethics Advisor.]
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Joyce Cardinal, RN, MBA, director of quality at Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon, WA, says she was lucky. One of Skagit's surgeons is on the SCOAP data committee, and after she attended a meeting about the surgical checklist, she already had a physician champion on board to get it started.
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Less than three months after releasing an addendum to its 2009 accreditation standards, The Joint Commission is telling hospitals to throw it out and refer instead to a newly revised edition.
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Houston-based Memorial Hermann Healthcare System will be honored this month at a gala event in Washington, DC, as the winner of the National Quality Forum's (NQF) 2009 National Quality Healthcare Award. Michael Shabot, MD, system chief medical officer, explains why the health system was chosen and how it met the five criteria NQF established for the award:
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If flight crews have to do it before takeoff, why shouldn't surgical teams do it before cutting into a patient?
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In conjunction with the American Heart Association's updated Get With The Guidelines program on heart failure, The Joint Commission is now offering hospitals a certificate of distinction in heart failure, as part of its disease-specific care advanced certification program.
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Traditionally, patients have been cast in a passive role in their own health care. Now, "patient involvement" has become an oft-heard term in hospital regulations and discussion, with acknowledgement that patients themselves can play an integral role in their care. How does The Joint Commission promote encouraging patients to speak up?
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Is routine preoperative testing an outdated concept? Despite the fact that many outpatient surgery programs continue to perform the testing, even for simple eye operations, a recent study raises the question about whether such testing has an impact on clinical outcomes.
