Each week Mobile Aspects will be tracking the top stories related to patient safety, RFID technology & healthcare efficiency across the web…
Want to get more insights about RFID & Healthcare? Follow us on twitter @mobileaspectsThis weeks top five:
1) NBC TODAY Investigates: Dirty surgical instruments a growing problem in the OR
An in depth article & video examination of Hospital reprocessing of surgical instruments written by Stacey Naggiar and Kerri Zimmer of NBC News.
The departments responsible for cleaning and reassembling surgical instruments — usually known as “sterile processing” — are frequently found in hospital basements and sometimes staffed by underpaid hourly laborers. These workers can be a forgotten and neglected part of the team involved in a surgical procedure. As the CPI report indicates, the sterilization workers say they feel more like they’re doing an unrecognized service, with pressure from nurses and surgical staff to make the process as fast as possible.
2) amednews.com: Fear of punitive response to hospital errors lingers
37% of hospital staffers say they are afraid to ask questions about a possible error
Very well written piece highlighting the pressures placed on hospital employees when reporting adverse events. Based on data released in February by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, most physicians, nurses, pharmacists & other health professionals working in hospitals belive their organizations are still more interested in punishing missteps & enforcing hierarchy rather than encouraging open communication.
3) Do’s and Don’ts of hospital health IT
This article was written by Shahid N. Shah at Healthcareguy.com. Here are just a few of the do’s & don’ts which caught our eye but he covers a wide range of health IT topics in the article…
DO
- Virtualize your applications – as soon as possible, make it so that no applications are sitting in physical servers. Proceed with caution or do not invest in apps which can not be easily virtualized.
- Start implementing cloud-based services. Don’t think, though, that just because you are implementing cloud services that you will have less infrastructure or related work to do.
DON’T
- Don’t write applications on top of legacy EHR platforms; write applications with proper HL7 connectivity and platform independence. Most EHR platforms are using technologies that are either ancient or need to be replaced; by integrating deeply but remaining independent of their technologies you’ll get the best of both worlds.
4) The Pulse: Endoscope reprocessing hazards – thousands of patients impacted annually
A look at current issues regarding endoscope reprocessing including a breakdown of how RFID is being used to prevent adverse events in the GI Lab. Below are several helpful links related to patient safety & endoscope reprocessing.