Homecare—the provision of personal, often sophisticated, medical care in the home—has been promoted as an attractive alternative to a lengthy hospitalization for patients. Homecare is further advanced as providing patients greater independence and more control over their care and as financially preferable to in-patient hospitalization.

At any level of track and field, even the Olympics, the most dangerous moment in a relay race is when one runner hands the baton to the next. Even if the team includes the four fastest humans on earth, if there is a problem transitioning the baton (as happens surprisingly often among top-level athletes), there is little chance of victory. 

Our hospitals are busy, high-tech places for healing. Every member of the healthcare team is involved in a critical mission to provide the best possible patient care or support service to help achieve that goal. The healthcare industry is also increasingly regulated and transparent.

A resident is called stupid and a fool when she makes a minor error during surgery. An obstetrician says to a newly hired nurse caring for his patient, “Let me talk to a real nurse.” An obstetrician says to a newly hired nurse…

ABQAURP’s 38th Annual Health Care Quality and Patient Safety Conference, Friday, April 17, 2015, Royal Sonesta Houston – Houston, TX

Communities often develop verbal short cuts for concepts that bind them together. In patient safety, “transparency” serves as shorthand for a broad range of activities and programs, including disclosure of errors, patient- and family-friendly access to medical records…

The American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety (ABMRS) is built around the central principal that professionals trained in MR safety represent the single greatest opportunity to reduce accidents and injuries in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment.

Dr. Lucian Leape is a leader among those who urge clinicians and organizations to talk openly about their mistakes, disclose harm done to patients, and apologize promptly and sincerely. Those activities come immediately to mind when the term “transparency” is used in patient safety.

Yelp. TripAdvisor. Angie’s List. Healthgrades. No individual or organization maintains immunity from scrutiny by their customers. Reviews can be uplifting and embarrassing, and they surely capture the attention of both the reviewer and the reviewed.

Have you ever been tempted to answer a question even though you were not sure of the answer? Perhaps the fear of looking stupid was so overwhelming that any answer was thought to be better than no answer. Under pressure, we may “shoot from the hip,” forming an answer to a question in seconds and not taking time to weigh options or consider the question.