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Between 2001 and 2005, average length of stay in the ED at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago has dropped from 85 minutes to 45 minutes. Throughput has fallen from 308 minutes to 230 minutes during the same period. In addition, patient satisfaction scores (Press Ganey Associates, South Bend, IN) have increased from 74.6% to 84%.
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has named Swedish Medical Center in Seattle the winner of the inaugural Ernest Amory Codman Award in the disease-specific care category, for establishing a comprehensive program that deploys a coordinated team to assure comprehensive, timely, and efficient acute stroke care.
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The staff in the pre-op area see the nurse liaisons interaction with patients and families as having a calming effect on the patient and family members, especially when there are delays, and [post-anesthesia care unit] nurses are relieved that the family is being taken care of so they can concentrate solely on the patients needs, explains Maureen Spangler, RN, CNOR, director of perioperative services at Lexington Medical Center in West Columbia, SC.
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A recent report by the Pew Center on the States (www.pewcenteronthestates.org) examines state Medicaid reforms being tested to reduce program spending.
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The annual "State of the States" report, summarizing strategies states are implementing or considering to expand health coverage, has been released by State Coverage Initiatives, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
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U.S. spending to treat trauma-related disorders nearly doubled between 1996 and 2003...
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After your disaster drills, do you identify areas that need improvement, and do you take steps to address these? Thats what JCAHO surveyors will want to know, with a revised standard effective July 1, 2006, requiring health care organizations to improve the planning and evaluation of emergency management drills.
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There appears to be an endless search for the ideal measurement instruments and techniques for evaluating patient satisfaction. Researchers and practitioners now have more than a decade of know-how in determining whether a patient is satisfied with his or her health care experience.
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Surgical infection prevention (SIP) performance measure sets are now available on the Joint Commissions Quality Check web site (www.qualitycheck.org). The evidence-based measures assess the overall use of antibiotics for surgical infection prevention.
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Insurance claims against doctors, nurses and other medical professionals have stabilized for the first time in years, according to the seventh annual Aon Hospital Professional Liability and Physician Liability Benchmark Analysis, recently released by the insurance giant based in Chicago.
