Like a well-oiled machine, hospital operating room protocol could always use a tune-up. ORs rely on several moving parts to conduct surgeries safely and efficiently, and all of the moving parts have to be alert, careful and calm. Nancye Feistritzer,…
Patient Safety & Outcomes
Eight hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers partnered with the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare to address the problems and causes of wrong-site surgeries, according to a JCCTH news release.
Since the Joint Commission rolled out its universal protocol in 2004 to prevent wrong-site surgeries in the operating room, it has estimated that wrong-site surgeries occur 40 times a week in U.S. hospitals and clinics based on state data, according…
A study published in the British Journal of Surgery has suggested noisy operating rooms may put patients at greater risk for surgical site infections. Researchers measured the sound level during 35 elective open abdominal procedures, and the primary outcome parameter…
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In 2009, Pennsylvania hospitals reported 652 failed processes within radiology procedures that exposed patients to potential harm, including order and scheduling inaccuracies, patient misidentification and inaccurate procedure verification processes, according to a Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority news release.
Johns Hopkins research has suggested that time of day has no affect on patient survival for heart and lung transplants, according to a Johns Hopkins Medicine news release. Heart and lung transplants are performed whenever the organs become available —…
A Canadian study has shown patients fared equally well when their cardiac surgeons were well-rested as when the surgeons were operating on less than three hours of sleep, according to a Reuters report. The study followed patients at London Health…
University of Michigan Health System, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., will start posting information about its quality and safety rankings online, according to an AnnArbor.com news report.
As hospitals and governmental bodies place a greater emphasis on patient safety, operating room teams are working to build "cultures of safety" that reward compliance and encourage teamwork. But while most providers have good intentions when it comes to patient…