The Joint Commission (TJC) has released its annual list of the most challenging standards for hospitals and other healthcare facilities. In 2023, many hospitals were cited for noncompliance over suicide risk management, high-level disinfection of equipment, medication verification, and...
Since the original programs of the 1980s, crew resource management (CRM) training has evolved to include additional subject matter beyond a focus on interpersonal communication. Today, CRM core content typically includes topics such as leadership, team building, followership and conflict...
As I think about it, I probably should have come up with this one a little earlier in the year when the world was full of the spritely talk of annual evaluations of physical environment management programs, but I guess there’s no statute of limitations on discussing goals—or indeed, any sort of...
With the COVID-19 pandemic still fresh in people’s minds, the CDC released updated recommendations for respiratory virus protection on March 1. The guidance recommends vaccinations, hygiene, and good air quality to help prevent respiratory viruses. It also tells readers when a sick person can...
The Joint Commission (TJC) has released its annual list of the most challenging standards for laboratories and other healthcare facilities. In 2023, many laboratories were noncompliant when it came to investigating testing errors, performing preventive maintenance and competency assessments,...
CMS now allows texting of patient orders, but roll out its implementation carefully, say compliance experts. Policies will need to be updated with specifics on when and how orders can be texted and what kinds of information may or may not be included in a text. Then physicians, nurses, and...
Scott Wytosick, a fire and life safety consultant at Jensen Hughes, catches up this month with Healthcare Safety Leader to discuss topics such as adapting Life Safety Code® (LSC) compliance for a post-pandemic world, the future of remote inspections by authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ), and...
Having bopped around a fair amount of the nation over the last 6 months or so, I heard a fair number of stories from folks working in healthcare of the many and varied travails they faced during the winter months as whatever powers one might attribute to nature wandered very far afield. Folks...
On March 18, the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety (NIOSH) and the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation released the Impact Wellbeing guide as part of a federal campaign to take action on healthcare worker burnout. The guiding principles of the document are building trust...
Laboratories are a unique workplace of scientific inquiry and diagnosis, but they also pose specific risks to those who work within their confines. One significant concern is the potential exposure to bloodborne pathogens, which can lead to serious infections and health complications if not...