Performance measurement plays a vital role in driving healthcare quality improvement, but its effectiveness hinges on the reliability of the underlying data. By addressing data reliability challenges through standardized data collection, validation
Dr. Donald Berwick: A Quality Guru Transforming Healthcare
Meeting Dr. Donald Berwick, the renowned quality guru, was a transformative experience for me as a healthcare quality consultant. His expertise, dedication, and personable nature have made him an exceptional role model. Dr. Berwick’s focus on patient-centered care, systems thinking, leadership, collaboration, and continuous learning has shaped my approach to improving healthcare quality. I am grateful for the opportunity to have met and learned from him, and I will carry his teachings with me throughout my professional journey.
Patient Safety Assessment Manual
This manual provides the necessary tools for professional associations, regulatory, accrediting or oversight bodies and ministries of health, to improve patient safety. The manual has two sections: Patient safety standards; and Patient safety friendly hospital assessment tools. Patient safety standards: Involve five main domains: A. Leadership and management B. Patient and public involvement C. Safe…
Pt. Safety Friendly Hospitals
A study conducted in 2009 in six countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region showed that up to 18% of hospital admissions were associated with patient harm as a result of medical interventions. World Health Organization (WHO) started the Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative (PSFHI). This initiative is to enhance the implementation of patient safety practices in healthcare facilities. This initiative…
Smarter Spending in Healthcare
Smarter spending is a critical component of achieving the third aim of reducing the per capita cost of healthcare. Here are some ways in which smarter spending can contribute to achieving the Triple Aim:
Janet Brown in her own wards
On July 23, 1995, my life changed dramatically. I sustained a spinal cord injury and incomplete quadriplegic in a car accident. I use a wheelchair and have movement of my arms, but limited use of my hands. I consider the completion of my Handbook to be a miracle. It has continued despite disability, chronic neurogenic…
Patient Safety Officer
The Patient Safety Officer (PSO) has the primary responsibility to coordinate and serve as a resource for the development, implementation, review, and ongoing refinement of the patient safety program. The Patient Safety Officer must also encourage leadership performance measurement and staff incentive programs that support patient safety improvement. The PSO acts as a liaison for…
Swiss Cheese Model
The Swiss Cheese Model is a widely used framework for understanding and analyzing how errors can occur in complex systems, such as healthcare. The model was first proposed by James Reason, a British psychologist, and it has been used in many industries to identify and manage risks. The Swiss Cheese Model consists of multiple layers…
Leadership and Patient Safety
Leadership is considered the main factor for an effective patient safety program. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) developed a white paper, Leaders in Patient Safety, to assist healthcare leaders in the development of the patient safety program. This white paper recommends the following eight steps for leaders to achieve patient safety : Establish Patient…
Patient Safety Principles
Systems design Patient safety starts with system design. The safe system consists of procedures, the environment, the design of the material used, the training that has been done, and the culture of the team caring for the patient. The more complex the system, the more chance for errors to happen. The best-designed systems are the…
Pt. Safety Story – Bill Aydt
As told by Bill’s daughter, Karen Curtiss. Dad was lucky, at first. He was in the final stages of a disease that had thickened his lung tissue beyond repair when a transplant came through. It was February 21, 2005. The same day, he went into surgery and emerged nine hours later with a new lung…
Pt. Safety Stories – Alicia Cole
Alicia Cole had been a successful working actress whose only experience with healthcare was playing doctors on TV. All that changed, however, when she learned in 2006 that she needed a “routine” procedure to remove two small uterine fibroids. Originally, she was scheduled to be home in two days, but that never took place. She…
Risk Assessment
What is risk assessment? A risk assessment seeks to answer four simple, related questions: What can go wrong? How bad? How often? Is there a need for action? It is impossible to eliminate all risks but we have a duty to protect our patients. This means we must avoid any unnecessary harm. Definitions Hazards which…
MERS Co-V Study, Worldwide
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory illness first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It is caused by a coronavirus called MERS-CoV. Worldwide Analysis updated june 2015 The analysis dashboard shows the relation between various case variables as: number of cases per month with or without contact with animals. the country, cases are healthcare…
The Three Behaviors
ABC model of attitudes Affective component This involves a person’s feelings / emotions about the attitude object. For example: “I am scared of spiders”. Behavioral component The way the attitude we have influences how we act or behave. For example: “I will avoid spiders and scream if I see one”. Cognitive component This involves a…
Door to Triage Time in ED
Measuring Door-to-Triage Time in the emergency department (ED) involves tracking the time it takes for a patient to be assessed by a triage nurse after arriving at the ED. Here’s a general approach to measuring this metric :
1) Define the Start Point: Determine the specific event or action that marks the beginning of the
HAMs Harmful Errors
Identification of High Alert Medications (HAMs) differs from one institution to another. However, all organizations identify four specific HAM drug classes—insulins, anticoagulants, sedatives, and opioids—because they’re frequently linked to potentially harmful outcomes. Insulins Reports received by ISMP reveal most insulin errors stem from human error (concentration lapses, distractions, and forgetfulness) related to dosage measurement and…
Six Aims of Quality
After “To Err Is Human” (2000); The Institute of Medicine (IOM) published another influential book “Crossing the Quality Chasm“ (2002), This book called attention to three broad categories of quality defects: Underuse: whereby scientifically practices are not used as often as they should be; Overuse: especially of imaging procedures and prescription of antibiotics; and Misuse: when…
MERS Corona Virus
Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory illness first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It is caused by a coronavirus called MERS-CoV. Most people who have been confirmed to have MERS-CoV infection developed a severe acute respiratory illness. They had a fever, cough, and shortness of breath. About 30% of people confirmed…
Patient Empowerment Experience
Scaling Up Shared Decision-Making, USA The Health Decision Sciences Centre at Massachusetts General Hospital has created a streamlined process whereby doctors in primary and secondary care can ‘prescribe’ a patient decision aid through their electronic medical record. The patient can then access the tool outside of the consultation to facilitate better shared decision making. Respectful…
Healthcare Data – Know How !!!
Healthcare data can be analyzed to identify patterns and trends, evaluate the effectiveness of treatments and interventions, and inform decision-making.
Here are some key steps in analyzing healthcare data:
Healthcare Data !!!
Overview From birth certificate until the death certificate, each one accumulates healthcare data. Each time a person has contact with the healthcare some data is produced, be it paper, electronic, or both. Healthcare data is any data are collected and used when individuals interact with healthcare systems. This data includes a record of services received, conditions of those services,…
Patient Engagement – Successful Stories
Patients want to be engaged in their healthcare decision-making process and are increasingly asking for more responsive, open and transparent healthcare. Patients who are engaged as decision-makers in their care tend to be healthier and have better outcomes. Patient engagement increases the mutual accountability between the patients and their healthcare providers. Just Ask Campaign – Denmark The Danish Society…
Quality and Patient Safety
Patient safety is about how healthcare organizations protect their patients from errors. While many hospitals are good at keeping their patients safe, some hospitals aren’t. It’s up to everyone to make sure that patient safety is a priority. The difference between pt. safety and quality Safety has to do with lack of harm. Quality has to do with efficient, effective,…