Gray Market, Black Heart

ISMP

Gray Market, Black Heart

Pharmaceutical gray market finds a disturbing niche during the drug shortage crisis.

Widespread accounts of frustration, outrage, and serious compromises to patient care came across loud and clear from purchasing agents and pharmacists at 549 hospitals who participated in ISMP’s July-August survey (2011) on gray market activities associated with drug shortages.

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The Link Between Transparency and Patient Safety

Event Reporting

The Link Between Transparency and Patient Safety

Since early 2010, 13 private, acute care hospitals in Rhode Island have been collaborating in a major initiative to improve patient safety through better reporting of data on adverse and near-miss medical events. The hospitals now use the same medical event reporting technology and have standardized their reporting criteria.

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Provider-Friendly Terminology Speaks the Language of Quality and Safety

Medical Terminology Management

Provider-Friendly Terminology Speaks the Language of Quality and Safety

As a practicing physician, my peers often ask me what I do in the technology arena. When I reply, “standardization or medical terminology management,” I’ve usually lost them. And at its core, the goal of standardization really is not to complicate matters for physicians and other clinicians. Provider-friendly terminology (PFT) is an example of the kind of standardization our industry needs.

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Patient Safety and Health IT

by Susan Carr

The Institute of Medicine’s consensus report, Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care, gives a realistic, sobering view of the safety implications of electronic medial/health records (EHRs)…

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NEXT STEP Program Wins 2011 HOPE Award

Nov. 14, 2011—The winner of the 2011 MITSS HOPE Award is the NEXT STEP Program at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital Emergency Department in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The HOPE Award Honors Outstanding People Everywhere who have furthered the MITSS mission of Supporting Healing and Restoring Hope to patients, and families, and clinicians who have been impacted by adverse medical events. RL Solutions’ President and CEO, Sanjay Malaviya, presented the award at the MITSS 10th Annual Dinner and Fundraiser held at the Westin Copley Place, Boston, on Tuesday, November 1st. 

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IOM Issues Report on Patient Safety and Health IT

Nov. 8, 2011—To protect Americans from potential medical errors associated with the use of information technology in patient care, a new report by the Institute of Medicine calls for greater oversight by the public and private sectors.  The report examines a broad range of health information technologies, including electronic health records, secure patient portals, and health information exchanges, but not software for medical devices.

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MRI Safety 10 Years Later

MRI Safety 10 Years Later

In the summer of 2001, the radiology world was shocked to learn of an accident at Westchester Medical Center in New York state in which 6-year-old Michael Colombini was killed while being prepared for an MRI exam. Sedated and positioned in the scanner, the child’s oxygen saturation levels began dropping quickly.

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NPSF Announces 2012 Patient Safety Awareness Week Campaign

Oct. 4, 2011—The National Patient Safety Foundation today announced its 2012 Patient Safety Awareness Week campaign, Be Aware for Safe Care. Patient Safety Awareness Week will take place March 4-10, 2012. This year’s theme highlights the need for everyone to understand the importance of patient safety and to recognize the range of efforts being made to improve health safety in the US and worldwide.

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