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Let’s shoot for what we really, really want.
An exciting appointment to head CMS

Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “If you’ve been in government a long time, as I have been, then the most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence. Why is this exciting? Because it’s rare.” When I read the quote, even today, I can hear the late New York senator’s voice booming, his last word full with extra punctuation.



Being an editor, I am well acquainted with error. Unlike medical errors, the effects of my slips and lapses are rarely dangerous. In fact, they’re often humorous, occasionally useful.



The National Patient Safety Foundation will offer a complimentary webinar, "Patient Safety Resources and Publication Strategies: Uncovering and Contributing Important Knowledge in the Field," at 1:00pm ET on June 22, 2010.



I look forward each spring to attending the National Patient Safety Foundation’s (NPSF) Patient Safety Congress for great education and networking opportunities. I especially look forward to the pre-conference programs NPSF offers, which this year (May 17–19) added a half-day on medical simulation to the customary full-day sessions on leadership and community engagement.

The Canadian government agency Health Canada issued a reminder to hospitals last fall on the risk of entrapment of patients in hospital beds. This notice raises again what should by now be a well known hazard.

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The annual conference of the Health Information and Management Systems Society, HIMSS, is notorious for its size. This year's event — March 1-4 in Atlanta — drew 27,855 health IT professionals, clinicians, and vendor representatives. The Exhibit Hall featured 934 companies and was packed most of the time.


75% of Providers Report Experiencing Disruptive Behavior; 26% Changed Jobs

The results of a joint study by The Studer Group and the Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy (CPPA) at Vanderbilt University confirm that disruptive behavior pervades healthcare organizations and contributes to staff turnover.


HHS Invites Public Comment on Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections

The U.S. Health and Human Services Steering Committee for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections is soliciting input from the public as it develops a strategy for reducing and preventing HAIs. As part of that effort, it is convening a series of engagement meetings this summer: Sat., July 25 in Denver; Thurs., July 30 in Chicago, and Thurs., Aug. 27 in Seattle.

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Dr. Blumenthal Presents ONC Vision at HIT Symposium



Healthcare reform is getting a mind-bending boost from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with as much as $46 billion being directed toward Health Information Technology. Managing this effort is the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, Dept. of Health and Human Services, or ‘ONC’ for short. The ONC is spoken of in hushed tones, befitting an organization with such enormous impact, so I was especially interested to hear its Director, Dr. David Blumenthal, speak at the recent HIT Symposium at MIT (June 30 – July 2).

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Safeguards Fail to Protect VA Patients

from Surgeon’s Errors


In a page-one story on Sun., June 21, The New York Times reported that significant errors persisted for more than six years at a brachytherapy program at the Veterans’ Medical Center in Philadelphia despite investigation. The Times reports that Dr. Gary D. Kao implanted radioactive seeds incorrectly on repeated occasions as he treated patients with prostate cancer.

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Share Your Light

In this first posting to the PSQH blog, I invite readers to contribute suggestions and essays to what I expect to be a lively forum of news and ideas about safety and quality improvement. When we launched PSQH in late 2004, we wanted the magazine to provide more than a one-way transmission of information, and now the Internet offers some of the best vehicles for that kind of exchange.

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HITECH Interoperetta Goes Viral



For comic inspiration and musical bravura in the HIT space, nothing beats Dr. Ross D. Martin’s Interoperetta in Three Acts, an appreciation of HITSP, CCHIT, AHIC and more.

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The MRI Safety Gap

In healthcare, particularly in patient safety, there is a cultural predisposition towards excellence. There's a fundamental desire to create better, safer environments in support of care. That applies to staff qualifications, policies & procedures, medical technology, and — usually — standards for accreditation.

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