Another Look at Aviation as a Healthcare Model

By William A. Hyman

It has been popular to compare aviation’s safety record and procedures to similar processes in healthcare, usually with the notion that healthcare lags aviation in adopting a firm safety-oriented methodology (Carr, 2006; Pronovost et al., 2009; AHA, 2011). There can be considerable challenges when making such cross-discipline comparisons including staffing, training, mission scope, and perhaps personal risk.

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Paper on Automation in Surgery Wins 2011 Human Factors Prize for Excellence in HF/E Research

The Human Factors and Ergonomics Society congratulates Dietrich Manzey, Maria Luz, Stefan Mueller, Andreas Dietz, Juergen Meixensberger, and Gero Strauss on receiving the 2011 Human Factors Prize for their article, “Automation in Surgery: The Impact of Navigated-Control Assistance on Performance, Workload, Situation Awareness, and Acquisition of Surgical Skills.”

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AED Failures Connected to Deaths from Cardiac Arrest

Aug. 30, 2011—A study published online last week in Annals of Emergency Medicine reports that more than 1,000 cardiac arrest deaths over 15 years were connected to the failure of automated external defibrillators (AEDs); battery failure accounted for almost one-quarter of the failures.

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New Treatment Model Targets Improved Patient Outcomes at Free Clinic

Aug. 19, 2011—The Jeanie Schmidt Free Clinic in Herndon, Virginia, has received a CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield grant to expand its Shared Medical Appointment program, a treatment model designed to increase clinic capacity, maximize staff and volunteer efficiency, and empower patients to engage in their own health care outcomes.

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American College of Surgeons Announces Goal to Enlist 1,000 Hospitals to its National Surgical Quality Improvement Program

CHICAGO (July 18, 2011) – The American College of Surgeons (ACS) today announced its goal to enlist at least 1,000 hospitals into its respected National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP®). The commitment is part of the ACS Inspiring Quality initiative launched today, an effort to raise awareness of proven models of quality improvement, coordinated care and disease management that can help improve the quality and value of health care.

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Zynx Health Streamlines Clinical Decision Support Workflow

Los Angeles, August 16, 2011—Zynx Health, the market leader in providing evidence-based and experience-based clinical decision support (CDS) solutions, announced the release of two software enhancements designed to streamline clinician workflow and improve productivity: Workflow Management, which simplifies CDS content development; and Export Validation, which provides a more efficient integration of content into the electronic health record system and expedites the delivery of evidence-based CDS to the point of care.

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Language Line Services Partners with Manhattan Cross Cultural Group and Quality Interactions to Provide Innovative Tools to Improve Healthcare for Diverse Patient Populations

Monterey, California and Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 4, 2011—Language Line Services, the worldwide leader in interpreting and translation services, announced a partnership with the Manhattan Cross Cultural Group (MCCG), creators of Quality Interactions, to help healthcare organizations provide the highest quality care to their culturally and linguistically diverse patients.

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