Joint Commission journal on quality and patient safety / Joint Commission Resources
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · May 2018
Developing a Medical Scribe Program at an Academic Hospital: The Hennepin County Medical Center Experience.
Medical scribes are frequently incorporated into the patient care model to improve provider efficiency and enable providers to refocus their attention to the patient rather than the electronic health record (EHR). The medical scribe program was based on four pillars (objectives): (1) provider satisfaction, (2) standardized documentation, (3) documentation components for risk adjustment, and (4) revenue enhancement. ⋯ Scribe support was well received across the institution in multiple clinical settings. Benefits for providers were seen in documentation time and ability to listen to patients. Scribes appear to be an effective intervention for improving clinician work life.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Oct 2018
Observational StudyRedesigning Rounds in the ICU: Standardizing Key Elements Improves Interdisciplinary Communication.
Daily multidisciplinary rounds (MDR) in the ICU represent a mechanism by which health care professionals from different disciplines and specialties can meet to synthesize data, think collectively, and form complete patient care plans. It was hypothesized that providing a standardized, structured approach to the daily rounds process would improve communication and collaboration in seven distinct ICUs in a single academic medical center. ⋯ This study demonstrated that the implementation of a simple toolkit that can be incorporated into existing work flow and rounding culture in several different types of ICUs can result in improvements in engagement of nursing staff and in overall communication.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Aug 2016
Implementing Delivery Room Checklists and Communication Standards in a Multi-Neonatal ICU Quality Improvement Collaborative.
The 2015 American Academy of Pediatrics Neonatal Resuscitation Program (NRP) and International Liaison Committee on Resuscitation (ILCOR) resuscitation guidelines state, "It is still suggested that briefing and debriefing techniques be used whenever possible for neonatal resuscitation." Effective communication and reliable delivery of evidence-based best practices are critical aspects of the 2015 NRP guidelines. To promote optimal communication and best practice-focused checklists use during active neonatal resuscitation, the Readiness Bundle (RB) was integrated within the larger change package deployed in the California Perinatal Quality Care Collaborative's (CPQCC) 12-month Delivery Room Management Quality Improvement Collaborative. ⋯ The RB was rapidly adopted, with compliance sustained for 6 months after completion of the collaborative. Inclusion of the RB in the next generation of the NRP guidelines is encouraged.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Jun 2017
Introductions During Time-outs: Do Surgical Team Members Know One Another's Names?
Introductions are the first item of the time-out in the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC). It has yet to be established that surgical teams use colleagues' names or consider the use of names important. A study was conducted to determine if using the SSC has a measurable impact on name retention and to assess if operating room (OR) personnel believe it is important to know the names of their colleagues or for their colleagues to know theirs. ⋯ This study suggests that OR personnel may consider introductions to be another bureaucratic hurdle instead of the safety check they were designed to be. It appears that this first step of the time-out is often being performed perfunctorily.
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Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf · Jun 2019
Reducing the Use of Ad Hoc Interpreters at a Safety-Net Health Care System.
Providing effective communication assistance is critical to ensuring that patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) receive safe and high-quality health care services. Health care providers often use ad hoc interpreters such as patients' family members or friends to communicate with LEP patients; however, this practice presents risks to communication accuracy, patient safety, quality of care, and privacy. ⋯ Changing practice to reduce the use of ad hoc interpreters in a large multisite organization is challenging and takes sustained and prolonged effort. Strong institutional policies and site-specific outreach can help stimulate change, and partnership with leadership champions is critical to success. CHA's experience provides strategies and lessons that can be leveraged by other institutions seeking to improve care for LEP patients.