"There is more to healthcare than drugs, dollars, and documentation!"
-John O’Malley
National Patient Recognition Week is the first seven days in February, with February 3rd being National Patient Recognition Day...
Take a Moment...
Though every day is patient recognition day-or should be-the first seven days in February is a special time for all healthcare providers, physicians, nurses, administrators, executives, technologists, technicians, environmental and patient services, volunteers, and ancillary support personnel to stop and seriously reflect on their stewardship of patient care and their dedication to patient satisfaction.
No person is insignificant or so distant from patient care that they should go unnoticed. All direct and indirect providers of patient care and those supporting the people who administer care are part of the care team.
“One favorable and memorable care experience is the sum of hundreds of direct and indirect staff encounters.” -John O'Malley
National Patient Recognition Week is when those working in healthcare pause to reconfirm, and display, a renewed commitment to patient care, the patient's well being and satisfaction.
All must put care-ism before capitalism, lest we forget our reason for being. Toward that end consider using National Patient Recognition Week as a special time to energize the human-side of patient caring.
Few patients can tell if you're providing quality care, but all can tell if you care!
Patient-safety events common: HealthGrades study
By Jean DerGurahian
April 7, 2009 - 12:00 pm EDT
Patient-safety events are common at hospitals across the country, with Medicare beneficiaries experiencing an event every 1.7 minutes, according to the annual HealthGrades study of Medicare patients.
There were 913,215 patient-safety events between 2005 and 2007 and 97,755 in-hospital deaths among patients who experienced one or more of those events, HealthGrades reported in its study. The events account for more than $6.9 billion in costs, according to the organization, which also announced its 2009 HealthGrades Patient Safety Excellence Award winners.
The healthcare ratings organization identified the incident rates of 15 indicators developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality—such as select infections, anesthesia complications, accidental puncture, bed sores and death in low-mortality diagnosis-related groupings—to determine performance in the country's 5,000 hospitals.
Performance improvement was not evident in seven of the 15 indicators—including bed sores, sepsis and pulmonary embolism—in 2007 compared with 2005, HealthGrades said. The organization concluded that had all hospitals produced outcomes to the level of its top 5% performing hospitals, the industry could have avoided 22,771 deaths, 211,697 events and saved $2 billion.
