Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems do more than just heat and cool air. During optimal performance, HVAC systems also control humidity, establish directional airflow or pressurization relationships between spaces, filter and dilute recirculating air, and flush contaminants...
In this guest column, Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, laboratory safety officer for multihospital system Sentara Healthcare in Virginia, and otherwise known as “Dan, the Lab Safety Man,” discusses the important issues that affect your job every day. Today, he talks about how too much experience can...
Hospitals and health systems this year are navigating a complex mix of financial pressure, rising patient acuity, workforce shortages, and rapid technological change. Yet even under those conditions, many organizations have managed to improve key quality indicators.
A recent California assembly bill marks one of the most prescriptive workplace violence prevention mandates hospitals have faced to date—not just requiring plans on paper, but forcing operational decisions around weapons detection, staffing, training, and patient access.
Patient safety rarely fails because of a single mistake. It breaks down when systems don’t hold under stress—during handoffs, missed follow-ups, staffing strain, or moments when staff hesitate to speak up.
Thermal events tied to medication management devices are drawing heightened regulatory scrutiny—and hospital safety, facilities, and clinical engineering leaders should take notice.
Hospitals are getting hit from two sides right now: The accreditation manuals are evolving, while surveyors keep drilling into the same operational pressure points that create real patient risk—transitions, medications, documentation, and the environment of care.
Emergency response time is rarely treated as a core safety metric in hospitals, yet it often determines how incidents actually unfold. While compliance programs and traditional reporting focus on outcomes after the fact, lost minutes during staff safety events, isolated emergencies, and even...
A recent report highlights the top patient safety challenges impacting the healthcare industry in 2026, revealing how vulnerabilities in technology, staffing, culture, and public health intersect to expand patient risk.
