Proposed National Patient Safety Goal
Joint Commission seeks to address the problem of overuse in healthcare
The Joint Commission has proposed a new National Patient Safety Goal to “minimize the overuse of tests, treatments, and procedures to reduce the risk of patient harm” and is seeking input from the field on this proposed new goal by January 24, 2012.
Read the proposed standard and provide your comments »
In 2002, The Joint Commission established its National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) program to help accredited organizations address specific areas of concern in regards to patient safety. A panel of widely recognized patient safety experts advise The Joint Commission on the development and updating of NPSGs. This panel, called the Patient Safety Advisory Group, is composed of nurses, physicians, pharmacists, risk managers, clinical engineers and other professionals who have hands-on experience in addressing patient safety issues in a wide variety of health care settings.
ASCs Must Use Surgical Checklist by January 2012
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is calling on all ambulatory surgery centers (ASC) to use a safe surgical checklist starting January 1, 2012. CMS’s new Medicare quality reporting program will require all Medicare-certified ASCs to report whether or not they used a “safe surgery checklist” during the entire year of 2012. No financial penalties will be given if an ASC does not comply with the requirement; however, CMS plans to make reports available to the public that indicate whether an ASC complied with the requirement. ASCs will be subject to financial penalties associated with this requirement in future years.
Drug Mix-up Alert from Oregon Board of Pharmacy
According to an OregonLive.com article, the Oregon Board of Pharmacy is warning of an “alarming number of dispensing errors” involving the drugs tramadol and trazondone. The drugs treat different clinical conditions; however, the similar names and look of the drugs increase the possibility that a pharmacist may give a patient an incorrect prescription. In the Oregon Board of Pharmacy’s November newsletter, the Board indicates that they are reviewing several mix-ups involving these two drugs. The Board encourages pharmacists to review how they handle these drugs and to consider establishing “effective preparation and verification procedures” that can prevent such confusion in the future.
One resource to help pharmacists determine when special precautions are needed to avoid medication mix-ups is the Institute for Safe Medication Practices’ List of Confused Drug Names.
Hospitals Work to Eliminate Blood Stream Infections
November 2011
Members of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (OAHHS) join experts from Johns Hopkins University to continue ongoing conversation about how to eliminate Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI). The STOP BSI program is an integral component of the HAI (healthcare-associated infection) Collaborative managed by the Oregon Patient Safety Commission (OPSC).
Commission Endorses “Partnership for Patients” Initiative
The Commission’s Board of Directors has endorsed Partnership for Patients, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ launch of a new public-private partnership, bringing together healthcare leaders to make hospital care safer, more reliable, and less costly.
