Alarm Raised Over Patient Boarding in Emergency Departments
Boarding in emergency departments occurs when there is a shortage of inpatient beds for hospital admissions or there are no beds at external facilities such as psychiatric hospitals. The Joint Commission recommends that emergency department boarding not exceed four hours; however, it has become common to have emergency department boarding for days or weeks, according to ACEP.
Share Your Innovative Quality Improvement Ideas
Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare is seeking to spotlight the best healthcare quality improvement case studies. By imparting their in-the-trenches experiences and lessons learned, the chosen case studies will shed light on an issue, practice, or principle that affects stakeholders across the modern medical staff landscape.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 65 – The Impact of Patient Falls on Senior Care
On episode 65 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dr. Glen Xiong, clinical professor at UC Davis Health and Chief Medical Officer at SafelyYou, talks about the impact of patient falls on senior care.
Can Lighting Mitigate Fall Risks?
The results of a two-year study conducted by investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and MLI, published in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, found a 43% reduction in resident falls at long-term care facilities that installed a tunable LED lighting system compared to control facilities that maintained standard lighting.
Survey Finds Chronic, Widespread Shortages of Allied Care Professionals
A survey of 1,005 healthcare venues by the Dallas-based healthcare staffing recruiter found that 85% of respondents say they are experiencing a shortage of allied healthcare professionals “a great deal,” “a lot” or “a moderate amount,” while 82% report hiring new graduates over the last 12 months to address ongoing staffing shortages. Only 15% responded “a little” or “not at all.”
International Infection Prevention Week Resources From PSQH
As International Infection Prevention Week wraps up, we want to thank infection preventionists for all the hard work they do every day. In Friday’s issue of Patient Safety & Quality Insider, we’re recapping the content we ran this week for IIPW.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 64 – Spotlighting the Danger of Non-Ventilator Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia
On episode 64 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dian Baker, a professor at the School of Nursing, California State University, Sacramento, talks about hospital-acquired pneumonia. This episode is part of PSQH’s activities for International Infection Prevention Week.
Chief Nurse: How to Reduce Serious Safety Events
Ward, who has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare administration and has served in senior nursing roles in organizations across the country, spoke with HealthLeaders about what has worked in reducing serious safety events.
Tighter Focus on Nursing Home Infection Control Offers More Effective Patient Safety
Duties of an on-site infection preventionist would include gathering and reporting data on different infections to the state and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and doing rounds through the facility to observe direct care practices, providing coaching and feedback if necessary. If a resident had previously been treated for an infection, the preventionist would follow up with them.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 61 – Fighting the Rise of Antimicrobial Resistance
On episode 61 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dr. Anthony Senagore, senior medical director of PolyPid, talks about the trend of rising antimicrobial resistance.