News and Resources for the Professional Nurse
Patient-safety events still a problem for U.S. hospitals
Patient-safety events accounted for 97,755 in-hospital deaths between 2005 and 2007, according to an annual HealthGrades study of Medicare patients. The report said that there were 913,215 events overall during the period and that Medicare patients experienced a safety event every 1.7 minutes. The errors cost more than $6.9 billion over the two-year period.
See full story at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5365J820090407
Leapfrog Group Survey Finds Majority of Hospitals Fail to Meet Important Quality Standards
Though it has been 10 years since the Institute of Medicine’s Landmark report on patient safety, too many hospitals still have failed to implement standards known to improve quality and save lives. Few hospitals meet standards for first national measures of hospital efficiency for heart attack care, bypass surgery, heart angioplasty, and pneumonia.
See full report at:
http://www.leapfroggroup.org/media/file/leapfrogreportfinal.pdf
Joint Commission Releasing Report on Hand Hygiene
The Joint Commission is releasing “Measuring Hand Hygiene Adherence: Overcoming the Challenges,” to help health care organizations target their efforts in measuring hand hygiene performance. The monograph is designed to address “everything you ever wanted to know about hand hygiene measurement but were afraid to ask.”
See full report at:
http://www.jointcommission.org/NR/rdonlyres/68B9CB2F-789F-49DB-9E3F-2FB387666BCC/0/hh_monograph.pdf
Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) unveiled a plan that establishes a set of five-year national prevention targets to reduce and possibly eliminate health care-associated infections (HAIs). Health care-associated infections are infections that patients acquire while undergoing medical treatment or surgical procedures. These infections are largely preventable.
See the HHS Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections at:
http://www.hhs.gov/ophs/initiatives/hai/draft-hai-plan-01062009.pdf
Examining the Health Consequences of the 2008–09 Recession
http://www.gwumc.edu/sphhs/about/rapidresponse/download/Rapid_HlthRecs_Final.pdf
Gallup: Annual Honesty and Ethics poll rates nurses best of 21 professions
PRINCETON, NJ -- For the seventh straight year, nurses enjoy top public accolades in Gallup's annual Honesty and Ethics of professions survey. Eighty-four percent of Americans call their honesty and ethical standards either "high" or "very high."
See the full article at:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/112264/Nurses-Shine-While-Bankers-Slump-Ethics-Ratings.aspx
Highly resistant bacteria common in ER workers
Health care workers in emergency departments are often carriers of the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or (MRSA), potentially putting patients at risk, according to two reports in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4BS4NX20081229
Old, but Not Out: The Aging Nurse in Today's Workplace
In today's multigenerational work setting, nurses from as many as 4 different generations are working side by side. Each generation's core values, created by the era in which they were born and by their life experiences, can influence work ethic, perceptions of others' work ethic, and communication styles
See Full Article at:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/585454?src=mp&spon=24&uac=102262HZ
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