Most industries have readily accepted that improved customer service will lead to increased customer loyalty, increased revenue, and an enhanced bottom line.

Russell L. Holman, MD, is a hospitalist, president of the Society of Hospital Medicine and chief operating officer of Cogent Healthcare, an industry-leading organization that manages hospital medicine programs throughout the country.

As the principal of Spyglass Consulting Group, I’ve surveyed clinicians each year since 2002 to evaluate the use of mobile communications and computing devices in healthcare.

Dekker and Laursen (2007) show that many healthcare organizations still regard mistakes and near misses as “violations” or “errors” by personnel.

I cannot imagine an issue more important to anyone than his or her health. Our present and future are dependent upon our health — our ability or inability to act on our thoughts, desires, and ideas.

Care transitions at the time of hospital discharge have long been a problem in our nation’s healthcare system, especially for older adults. It’s often a stressful and sometimes dangerous process that can impact the health outcomes of the patient.

Telemedicine, a partnership of sophisticated, 21st century disciplines, is helping to improve the quality of healthcare around the world.

  January / February 2008 Using Technology to Establish Clinical Context By Mike Dempsey and Sue Niemeier, RN, MHA     The association between the patient’s wristband active-RFID tag and the one worn by the nurse can be used to measure direct-care time. As health systems continue to extend evidence-based medicine by implementing EHRs, CPOE and … Continued

Motivated by studies on the prevalence of adverse drug events (ADE) and by directives from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) initiatives and The Joint Commission, hospitals have turned their focus to patient safety.

Surgical complications in the U.S. account for 2.4 million days of patient hospital stay at a charge of $9.3 billion (Supplement on SCIP, 2007).