HealthCare Facilities - News & Trends

Influencing patient safety

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The way a hospital administration treats its staff members can affect the quality of patient car, according to a new study by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Patient safety is influenced by a hospital's culture. According to the survey, employees at smaller hospitals (49 beds or fewer) felt the most comfortable in their hospital culture. Employees of larger hospitals were particularly concerned about patient safety at their institutions. There was no noticeable difference between teaching and non-teaching hospitals.

Geography, though, plays a role. In general, East South Central and West North Central hospitals scored highest on patient safety and comfort in the hospital culture. Mid-Atlantic/New England, East North Central, and Pacific hospitals scored lowest.

Overall, hospitals polled scored the highest on teamwork within units and patient safety. They scored the lowest in nonpunitive response to errors and number of patient safety events reported.

For more information, see www.ahrq.gov/qual/hospculture/

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Nonprofit hospitals do well

NEW YORK– Nonprofit hospitals, which account for most U.S. hospitals, are doing well financially thanks to tax breaks, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal.
The article states that the combined net income of the 50 largest nonprofit hospitals grew by almost eight times between 2001 and 2006, reaching $4.27 billion. It adds that 77% of the 2,033 U.S. nonprofit hospitals are operating in the black.

For more information, and a response from the American Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, see www.ahp.org/in-the-news/articles/040708.php

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Meeting diverse needs

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. –The Joint Commission, in a report titled One Size Does Not Fit All: Meeting the Health Care Needs of Diverse Populations, urges health care organizations to assess their capacity to meet patients’ unique cultural and language needs.

The report is based on successful practices now being used in hospitals, and underscores the need to move away from a “one size fits all” approach that negatively affects the quality and safety of care for diverse patients. The report includes a self-assessment tool that can help health care organizations tailor their initiatives to meet the needs of diverse populations.

The report urges hospitals to systemically engage in a range of practices across four areas:

• Build a foundation. Leadership must drive efforts to establish specific policies and procedures for better meeting the diverse needs of patients. For example, cultural and language considerations should be included in the organization’s mission, vision, and value statements. The foundation should also include devoting resources for organizational planning and organization-wide policies that integrate cultural competence and support improved patient care for diverse populations.
• Collect and use data to improve services. Before determining which cultural and language services are most appropriate to implement, organizations should collect and review demographic data to assess both community and patient needs. To better evaluate an organization’s current cultural and language services, it is critical to track how often these services are used. Some of the services that may be monitored include language services, religious and spiritual care services, and special dietary requests that are cultural in nature.
• Accommodate the needs of specific populations. A continuous process is necessary to target culturally competent initiatives to specific populations. This includes staff training and education, as well as patient education.
• Establish internal and external collaborations. Organizations must work together with the community to share information and resources that meet the needs of diverse patients. Involving the community and making use of available external resources can help keeps costs down, while taking steps to develop a more diverse workforce, bridge cultural barriers, and become a more active part of the community.

To access the complete text, visit www.jointcommission.org

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Patient safety improves

STAMFORD, Conn. — A study by Thomson Healthcare shows clear improvement on a composite of eight patient safety measures affecting Medicare patients treated in U.S. hospitals from 2001 through 2005. 
The highest performance levels in patient safety were achieved by the 100 hospitals in the study that delivered the highest balanced performance across quality, efficiency, and financial stability. If all hospitals had performed at the level of these leading hospitals on the eight patient safety measures, they would have saved $253 million and 7,914 lives during the time period the study examined. 

The study, Trends in Patient Safety Adverse Outcomes and 100 Top Hospitals Performance 2000-2005, examined changes in patient safety scores in Medicare populations for eight patient safety indicators established by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.   

A composite patient safety score was one of the criteria used to rank hospitals on the Thomson balanced scorecard, representing one-eighth of the total weight of the performance measures used to establish the rankings. The composite patient safety measure was not in itself a principal determinant of the rankings. 
This research was performed as a part of the annual Thomson 100 Top Hospitals®: National Benchmarks for Success study, which examines changing performance levels in U.S. hospitals and objectively identifies 100 benchmark hospitals based on their overall organizational performance. 
The top 10 hospitals are:

• St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. Phoenix, Ariz.
• University Medical Center. Tucson, Ariz.
• MCG Health System. Augusta, Ga.
• Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. Evanston, Ill.
• University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital. Lexington, Ky.
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Boston.
• Providence Hospital and Medical Center. Southfield, Mich.
• University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers. Ann Arbor, Mich.
• St. John Hospital and Medical Center. Detroit, Mich.
• The University of Mississippi Medical Center. Jackson, Miss.

To see all 100 top hospitals, go to www.100tophospitals.com/winners/nationalwinners.aspx

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Infection control for dummies

BOISE, Idaho – The Housekeeping Channel (HC), in conjunction with The International Executive Housekeepers Association (IEHA) and Wiley Publishing, Inc., is  researching and publishing a new For Dummies® book -  Infection Control For Dummies - authored by IEHA's President J. Darrel Hicks and slated for publication in Summer 2008.

The custom mini-book will be designed as a concise, authoritative guide to preventing and controlling infectious illness at home and work.  The content, written in the friendly Dummies style, will be reviewed for technical accuracy by leading microbiologists, healthcare practitioners, and housekeeping experts. The publication is being made possible by generous funding by Spartan Chemical, Maumee, OH and with the support of IEHA membership. For more information, contact Beth Risinger at brisinger@ieha.org

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KaiScience adds Advisory Board

HAMILTON, Ohio – KaiScience (www.KaiScience.com) has established a Technical Advisory Board featuring doctors and scientists in core specialties that provide a foundation for authoritative discourse about cleaning science, plus the public health impact and indoor environmental benefits of hygienic cleaning processes. The KaiScience Advisory Board includes:

• Charlene Bayer, PhD
• Paul S. Darby, MD, PhD, MPH
• Robert Donofrio, MS, NSF International Microbiologist
• Charles P. Gerba, PhD
• Jay Glasel, PhD
• Dennis Kunkel, PhD
• Wanda Phipatanakul, MD, MS
• Robert W. Powitz PhD, MPH, RS, DLAAS
• Steve Robinson, MD
• Philip M. Tierno, Jr, PhD
• Bennett Weintraub, PhD
• Michael Zuckerman, MD

For more information, see www.kaiscience.com/media_center_news_room.php

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CSC launches Global Healthcare Sector

FALLS CHURCH, Virg. – Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) is launching a Healthcare Sector, dedicated vertical business unit serving healthcare providers, health plans, pharmaceutical, and medical device manufacturers and allied industries globally.

CSC’s Healthcare Sector will focus on processes related to supply chain management, revenue cycle management, claims processing, document management, and clinical trial management. The group will be bolstered by the 2007 acquisitions of First Consulting Group, an information technology services organization dedicated to healthcare and providing increased offshore delivery scale, and Covansys, which strengthened CSC’s offshore domain expertise while creating an additional market channel for industry, consulting, and outsourcing solutions.

Deward Watts, 61, has been named President of Healthcare Sector. Watts has been with CSC for 12 years, and previously led the Americas Healthcare practice as vice president and managing partner. Watts will report to CSC Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael W. Laphen. For more information, see www.csc.com/newsandevents/news/13270.shtml

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Herman Miller buys Bandrud

ZEELAND, Mich. -- Herman Miller, Inc. has finalized purchase of Brandrud Furniture, Inc., a Seattle-based manufacturer of healthcare furniture.

An alliance partner of Herman Miller since 2005, Brandrud carries a portfolio of healthcare furnishings, including seating products for patient rooms, patient treatment areas, and public spaces such as lobbies and waiting areas. For more information, see www.hermanmiller.com

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