In July 2003, The Joint Commission proposed, as part of its Universal ProtocolTM procedures, a requirement for hospitals to perform a timeout immediately prior to a procedure. A year later, the requirement was in effect. Yet since then, even top-notch hospitals have dealt with...
As part of its ongoing mission to eliminate needlestick and sharps injuries in healthcare, Safe in Common has issued the "Top 10 Golden Rules of Safety," a set of guidelines to "unify the industry around efforts to fight needlestick injuries and raise awareness about effective...
The Joint Commission has approved new National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 06.01.01 on clinical alarm safety for hospitals and critical access hospitals.
Medication safety as a concept seems simple. To ensure patients safely receive the right medication and dose, implement proven methods to avoid errors. To discover those methods, look at where problems almost or actually occur. But in a hospital, a fear-based hierarchy and...
The Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goal 07.05.01 on surgical site infections has been modified, and surveyors have currently stopped citing organizations that are out of compliance with element of performance (EP) 5 of the standard.
Imagine a patient is admitted to your hospital from a trauma unit. A history is taken, multiple staff members evaluate her, and she is brought up to the inpatient unit. There, staff are hands on, helping her to walk to the bathroom and focusing on getting her better. She...
Patient falls are often associated with elderly patients, but as one hospital experienced firsthand, postpartum women recovering in the obstetrics room can also be at risk.