ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, and its technology subcontractor, Silverchair, announce the relaunch of two key healthcare Web sites they have developed for the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

By Grena Porto, RN, MS, ARM, CPRHM

In July, Delaware Governor Markell signed a set of nine bills that tighten oversight of physicians and increase protection of children in medical care. Known collectively as The Bradley Bills, Delaware’s new legislation is the most comprehensive of its kind in the country and is named after a physician pedophile who got away with sexual abuse or rape of more than 100 children over the course of 10 years, while fellow physicians, hospitals, government agencies, and others looked the other way.

Continuing its historic march forward in improving patient safety through better communication, the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters is awarding its first Certified Medical Interpreter (CMI) designations.

Pharmacy OneSource, Inc., software-as-a-service provider to more than 1,300 hospitals in the United States, announced that West Florida Hospital in Pensacola, Florida, adopted Sentri7 to give its staff a single point of access to lab results, medication records and patient demographics, data that previously resided in different systems.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99,000 people die every year from infections acquired while in hospitals.

As advocates for patient safety in the operating room, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, (AORN), announced support for Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s signing of HB 1641 requiring the presence of a circulating nurse in certain operating rooms.

A new Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert warns that health care facilities today are being confronted with steadily increasing rates of crime, including assault, rape, and murder.

Hospira, a leading provider of clinical information and medication delivery technologies, introduced the new Anticoagulation Assistant knowledge module as part of its TheraDoc™ clinical surveillance platform.

To improve the quality and safety of healthcare in the United States,
the National Quality Forum (NQF) is releasing its updated manual Safe
Practices for Better Healthcare.

The Joint Commission announced the approval of revisions to Medical
Staff Standard MS.01.01.01, formerly known as MS.1.20, that is designed
to contribute to patient safety and quality of care through the support
of a well-functioning, positive relationship between a hospital’s
Medical Staff and Governing Body.