New Issue Features Interoperability, HENs, and Nurse Leadership
In PSQH, we attempt to represent the diversity of disciplines, tools, and knowledge that contribute to improving safety and quality, and the new issue is a good example of that approach.
The lead feature is an extended conversation with Julian M. Goldman, MD, on the topic of medical device interoperability. In Goldman’s view and in his work as an anesthesiologist and medical director of biomedical engineering at Partners HealthCare and director of the Medical Device “Plug-and-Play” lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, interoperability is both the “wicked health-IT problem” of our time and the key to transformational innovation and safety improvements.
Technology plays an important role in improving the efficiency, safety, and quality of care, but nothing is more important than leadership. Our feature on nurses in leadership roles brings together the voices of nurse executives in different settings—hospitals, businesses, and non-profit organizations. These nurses demonstrate that leadership is an important part of nursing practice from the bedside to the boardroom and that executives apply their nursing skills—teamwork, negotiation, pragmatic creativity, and especially patient-centeredness—wherever they practice. Working on this article, it became clear that the role of leadership in nursing education deserves an article of its own. If you would like to contribute to the article or suggest other areas you’d like to see us cover, please contact me at susancarr@psqh.com.
The news pages in this issue cover Hospital Engagement Networks (HENs), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid’s two-year program—one year down, less than one to go—to accelerate improvements aligned with the Partnership for Patients safety goals for hospitals. What does the program entail, and what have we learned so far?
Rounding out this issue of PSQH, there are features about population health management and the role of interruptions in causing medication errors. There also are columns about care collaboration, assumptions that may lead to disappointment with electronic medical records, electronic physician documentation, nurses and social media, and a special section on hand hygiene.