Failure Recovery Tool Offers Guidance Amid the ‘Chaos and Shock’ of Medical Errors

  This article appears in the March issue of Patient Safety Monitor. Hospitals need to have a structure in place to respond to patient safety failures Healthcare can be a stressful industry to work in, particularly when something goes wrong. Instead of relying on humans to react under pressure, one organization is offering a structured … Continued

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AHRQ releases new tool to reduce CAUTI

Building on its Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently released a new toolkit aimed at reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in hospitals. Released in October 2015, the toolkit consists of three modules: implementation, sustainability, and resources. Hospitals can use … Continued

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ECRI Institute Issues Technology Hazards List for 2016

Reprocessing of flexible endoscopes rises to #1 hazard; failure to recognize clinical alarms, health IT errors and other issues remain perennial hazards. Every year hospitals are blindsided and patients are harmed by unexpected health technology hazards. Medical technology is intended to improve patient care, but even the best technology—if configured, used, or maintained improperly—can lead … Continued

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Study Shows Positive Effects From UVC Robot

A new study on use of UV light in the short C-wavelength (UVC) for disinfection was presented at IDWeek 2015. The study showed that Tru-D SmartUVC significantly reduced healthcare-associated infections (HAI) caused by common multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) in hospitals. Tru-D SmartUVC was the UVC device selected for this study and proved its ability to reduce … Continued

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Medfusion Launches Mobile App to Simplify Healthcare Records

To provide patients with a single destination for all of their medical records, Medfusion—a patient engagement platform dedicated to facilitating the relationship between doctors and patients—has developed a consumer mobile application called Medfusion Plus.  For decades, if patients wanted access to their medical records, they had to request and pay for a paper copy, which … Continued

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Massachusetts General Hospital Expands Use of LiveData PeriOp Manager with OR-Schedule Board

LiveData, Inc. has announced that Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has expanded its deployment of LiveData PeriOp Manager™, adding LiveData OR-Schedule Board™ to its growing patient safety and operational intelligence deployments. A key module  in LiveData PeriOp Manager, OR-Schedule Board provides a large-screen view of the day’s surgical cases, showing the real-time status of all rooms in … Continued

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Athenahealth Launches Text Messaging for Providers and Care Teams

A new, secure text messaging service called athenaText® is fully integrated with athenahealth’s cloud-based electronic health record (EHR) platform and accessible through the standalone athenaText and Epocrates mobile apps. AthenaText is available at no cost to more than one million healthcare professionals on the athenahealth network, including every athenaClincials® EHR and Epocrates user. Additionally, healthcare … Continued

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