VLEHR: Virtual Longitudinal Electronic Health Records – An Approach to Quality Improvement
Previous contributions to the idea of an electronic health record (EHR) have set the healthcare industry on the right path, and many companies are beginning to adopt these solutions.
Viewpoint: Telehealth Programs — Introducing the Basics
In just one year, 81-year-old Dorothy was hospitalized 13 times for problems related to congestive heart failure (CHF). After participating in a telehealth program for 34 months, Dorothy’s health status improved significantly, and she had no CHF-related hospitalizations.
Technology & Quality: Usable Evidence-Based Guidelines… for Real
For more than two decades, clinicians struggled to use evidence-based guidelines. Ever since Wennberg’s work back in the 1970s demonstrating the huge practice variation seen even in relatively small geographic areas,…
Six Sigma – One Piece of the Patient Safety Puzzle: Advantages of the Six Sigma Approach
Faced with serious cost and quality issues, healthcare providers have increasingly looked at methods like Six Sigma to take their improvement efforts to a higher level.
Simulation – Patient Safety Simulations: Driver of Cross-functional Collaboration
Blame and punishment, missed hand-offs, complex regulations, and empowerment struggles are key issues that hamper the healthcare system’s ability to provide high-quality patient-centered care.
Right to Know – Patient Safety in American Hospitals: The Consumer Has the Right to Know
Most Americans believe that good quality healthcare is a right, not a privilege. Increasingly, American consumers are demanding the information about quality that is necessary to ensure that they receive high-quality care.
Partnering with Suppliers to Improve Patient Safety
Patient safety officers have a terrific opportunity to improve patient safety by helping their hospitals develop new and improved relationships with product, service, and technology suppliers.
PACS and Patient Safety: How PACS Addresses Patient Safety Across the Hospital Enterprise
The Institute of Medicine’s report on medical errors, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System (IOM 2000), sent a tremor through the healthcare industry as it reported that in the United States as many as 98,000 people die each year from medical errors.
View From the Hill: Hope Springs Eternal
Happy New Year, everybody! 2005 sure has started off with a bang. President Bush has been inaugurated for a second term, we have a new secretary of Health and Human Services, and the new 109th Congress has been seated with at least 46 new members.
Editor’s Notebook: Many Facets of Patient Safety
As we planned the first issues of Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare, we envisioned a periodical with a broad reach, reflecting the diversity of activities and interests in the field.