I’ve had an interesting couple of weeks scrambling up and down ladders while engaged in a focused above-the-ceiling life safety compliance assessment. The experience gave me time to think about one of the basic tenets (at least, for me) of managing the physical environment, which I will...
Conducting mock surveys, also called preparatory surveys, is a great way to ready your staff and find problems before the real thing comes to your facility. But how do you run an effective preparatory survey—one that mimics the real deal with the time and resources your healthcare organization...
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement recently announced that 7,000 healthcare professionals around the world have earned the organization’s Certified Professional in Patient Safety (CPPS) credential. PSMJ sat down with Patricia McGaffigan of IHI to ask her about the...
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities have been on OSHA’s “high-risk” workplace list for a few years. That means the regulatory agency has noticed an increased number of employee injuries there, and therefore OSHA inspections have increased in hospitals and labs as well. If an OSHA inspector...
This week brings us something of a mixed bag, but I think the two articles speak to the heart of how our management of the healthcare physical environment informs everything that goes on around and in it. I have consistently maintained (small pun intended) that pretty much everything in...
The healthcare sector is at a higher risk of cyberattacks compared to other industries because of the type of data it collects and stores. Global healthcare organizations collect detailed records of patients that include their names, dates of birth, addresses, Social Security numbers, and...
The ongoing issue of drug shortages presents significant challenges to healthcare systems across the country, impacting patient care, operational efficiency, and overall trust in the healthcare system. William “Bill” Lord, BSPharm, a seasoned pharmacy consultant with Nash Consulting, caught up...
For those of you keeping tabs on the regulatory landscape, you might already know that the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has initiated a new standard—ST108—that defines levels of water quality suitable for various stages of medical device processing, with the...
The CDC believes that healthcare worker burnout impacts the quality and safety of patient care, including increased medical errors and hospital-acquired infections among patients. Overburdened staff—due to inadequate or high patient-to-staff ratios, a negative workplace culture, poor...
When conflicts arise in the lab, they can distract staff from their work or safety practices. Conflicts can break down crucial relationships, lower work quality, and even erupt into verbal or physical violence. To talk about how a lab can prevent conflicts from arising and steps to take when...
