PDC-St. John Expands its Securline Bar Code Blood Band

PDC-St. John, the global leader in healthcare identification solutions, announced the extension of its Securline® Hybrid Style Bar Code Blood Band. The blood recipient ID wristband system provides automated patient identification for blood transfusion, specimen collection, and tracking to improve patient safety and workflow efficiencies in hospitals and blood banks. With the addition of six new Blood Band product lines, PDC-St. John now offers the widest selection of blood bank ID solutions in the healthcare marketplace.

The patented, Securline^® Hybrid Style Bar Code Blood Band is dual-purpose to accommodate both laboratory information system (LIS) labels and handwritten patient information. Larger healthcare organizations with multiple labs and facilities can standardize and consolidate to a single blood band, regardless of using an LIS system, or in the case of an emergency or electrical outage, a handwritten system. 

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EarlySense Included in New Study On Reducing Risks of Pressure Ulcers

A post regulatory approval clinical and interventional study results confirm the EarlySense contact-free patient monitoring system's value as a risk assessment tool for preventing pressure ulcers. The clinical study data is published in the December 2011 issue of the Journal of Patient Safety. It can also be accessed on line at:

http://journals.lww.com/journalpatientsafety/Abstract/2011/12000/Using_Continuous_Motion_Monitoring_Technology_to.3.aspx .

The EarlySense contact-free patient monitoring system automatically and continuously records and documents a patient's cardiac, respiratory and motion parameters using a compact sensor placed under the patient's mattress. The system alerts the nursing staff when there are significant changes in a patient's condition, if a patient has left or is in the process of exiting the bed, or if a patient needs turning in order to avoid pressure ulcers.

Nurses are informed of patient status changes, bed entries and exits as well as turn requirements, via a wired or wireless communication system, on the patient's bed side monitor, at the nurse's station, on their handheld devices and on a large screen display mounted in a prominent spot on the wall in the department.

The quoted clinical study was a non-interventional study performed in two medical departments at two separate medical centers. The movement of 116 patients enrolled in the study was recorded and retrospectively analyzed.

"We found that the pressure ulcer risk score correlated highly with the EarlySense measured motion rate. Based on this, we have concluded that the EarlySense system has potential to serve as a risk assessment tool to be used to prevent pressure ulcers," said Eyal Zimlichman, M.D., a lead researcher from the Center for Patient Safety Research and Practice, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA.

The interventional study, conducted at a US hospital, evaluated the implementation of the EarlySense contact-free patient monitoring system in a 33-bed medical-surgical unit. Here, data from 666 patients in the pre-implementation period were compared with data generated from the 993 patients in the post implementation period. The researchers found a reduction of about 65% in incidence of pressure ulcers attributed to the use of the technology. Of the 41 staff nurses who routinely worked on the floor with the technology, 88% agreed that the turn alerts provided by the EarlySense system helped nurses to reduce risk of pressure ulcers.

"EarlySense continues to set the standard for technologies that help clinicians provide proactive care on hospital floors by monitoring, communicating and facilitating the management of timely clinical interventions - all without ever touching the patients. Our system has been repeatedly reported by medical professionals to assist in their effort to save lives and secure better clinical outcomes. Today's data pertaining to pressure ulcers is another example of how the EarlySense system can make a valuable contribution to patient safety and the hospital's bottom line," said Avner Halperin, CEO of EarlySense.

Bloomberg Business Week- New Study On Hospital Readmission Rates

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine  supports federal efforts to improve the coordination of care between doctors and hospitals to cut admissions, said the author, Arnold Epstein, a professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.The government will reduce Medicare payments to hospitals with higher-than-average readmission rates beginning in October because returning patients are seen as an indicator of poor care.

Initial admissions are the strongest predictor of readmission rates, not whether hospitals instruct discharged patients on how to care for themselves, the study showed. The link between admissions and readmissions is “a real phenomenon and it’s quite a strong effect,” said David Goodman, the director of Dartmouth College’s Center for Health Policy Research in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Admissions tend to be higher in places like New York, where there are many hospital beds, he said in a telephone interview.

Variations In Readmissions

Nationwide, rates of readmission within 30 days after hospitalization for congestive heart failure range from 11 to 32 percent of patients, Epstein’s study showed.

Epstein and his co-authors analyzed Medicare data from the first half of 2008 to identify four factors that could predict a readmission and help explain the variation. They include whether patients in an area with high numbers of readmissions were sicker than average, whether they receive discharge instructions, whether doctors or hospital beds are in short supply and overall hospital admission rates.

Only admission rates showed a strong correlation with readmissions in analysis that included all of the variables, the study showed. Admission rates explained 16 percent of the variation between different regions, the study said. Discharge instructions by comparison only accounted for about half a percent of the difference, according to the study.

“Programs directed at shared savings from lower utilization of hospital services might be more successful in reducing readmissions than” the planned payment reductions, the study said.

Medicare will begin paying bonuses next year to hospitals and physicians who can reduce medical spending by their patients as part of so-called accountable care organizations.

Goodman agreed that the program may help stem readmissions. Policy makers should also try to address differences in admissions across the country, he said.

“A bed that’s not filled by readmission by good efforts just gets filled up by another patient who, in another region, wouldn’t be admitted at all,” he said. “We run the risk of ignoring some of these broader and arguably more important patterns” by focusing on readmissions, he said.

--Editors: Adriel Bettelheim, Bruce Rule

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Wayne in Washington at awayne3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Adriel Bettelheim at abettelh

PharMEDium Announces Medication Safety Solution for Operating Room

PharMEDium announced the first generation solution designed to support medication safety and documentation in the Operating Room . PharMEDium has developed the first bar code scanner to support medication verification administration. "Our certiMED™ system is designed to be used with the extensive line of PharMEDium Ready-to-Use O.R. syringe medications by providing a visual and audible double check at the point of administration," said David Jonas, PharMEDiumChairman and CEO.

In the O.R., anesthesia providers prepare and administer critical medications in a complex environment. The certiMED™ scanner is designed to function as an extension to the market leading PharMEDium O.R. anesthesia syringe labels featuring the American Society of Anesthesiologists' endorsed ASTM color standard to differentiate drugs within a class. The certiMED™ scanner was also developed with pharmacy requirements in mind. certiMED™ provides a means to reconcile medications in real time while supporting the anesthesia provider by integrating pharmacy resources into the medication use process in the O.R. through the drug library.

Problems With Ventilator Alarms Have Led to More Than 100 Patient Deaths

More than one hundred patients have died in the past six years as a result of problematic alarms on ventilators, which are designed to beep warnings to caregivers when something goes wrong with the machine or the patient’s breathing.The Boston Globe reports that the problems seem to be related less to the devices themselves and more to human error.  An analysis conducted by the Globe and the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit patient safety organization, found that 119 people died between 2005 and May 2011 in incidents involving ventilator alarms. According to the analysis, an actual malfunction of the ventilator was the cause in only two of those deaths; all others were the result of caregivers’ ignoring the alerts, failing to hear them or setting the alarms incorrectly.

The report is the latest development in alarm fatigue, a problem that occurs when hospital and home-based caregivers become overwhelmed by the number of alarms that blare constantly  from medical devices, such as ventilators or cardiac monitors.

“Alarms occur frequently, and many times they’re false, and because of that many times people fail to act as quickly as they should when an alarm goes off,” Maria Cvach, assistant director of nursing and clinical standards at Johns Hopkins Hospital, told ABCNews.com.



To read the full article please visit-http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2011/12/12/ventilator-alarms-linked-to-patient-deaths/

Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare has extensively covered medical alarm fatigue. Please visit our website at www.psqh for more information.

White Plains Hospital To Use Communication System from Amcom

White Plains Hospital in White Plains, N.Y., has selected the Amcom MediCall Select to significantly improve communications throughout the hospital.. They will  use the Amcom operator console and Web-based on-call scheduling solutions to automate and speed communications for external callers as well as their staff. MediCall Select will also eliminate paper-based procedures for time-sensitive communications.

Amcom designed MediCall Select for community and regional hospitals that face the same critical communication requirements as larger hospitals. "Hospital communications require speed and accuracy at all times, and MediCall Select will help us achieve this," said Brian Chiodo, Director of Telecommunications, White Plains Hospital. "Not only will staff and patients benefit from improved communication capabilities, but we will also have the technology backbone in place to support our growth."

"Like many community hospitals seeking to maintain and enhance quality as they grow, White Plains Hospital is migrating to a more advanced approach to helping staff, patients, and guests interact," said Chris Heim, President, Amcom Software. "Whether a patient's family member is calling for an update, a nurse is searching for the right on-call specialist at 2 a.m., or a caller just needs directions, White Plains Hospital will be able to put the right people in touch quickly and easily. They also have the right platform in place to incorporate emerging communications technologies as needed down the road such as messaging securely to smartphones and tablets."

Please visit Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare for more information on patient safety and healthcare quality improvement programs

Nason Hospital Turns to Access Intelligent for EMR Program

When Nason Hospital, in Roaring Spring, Pa., decided to pursue an electronic medical records initiative, administrators realized that the project would require barcoding for electronic and paper forms. They also identified barcoded patient wristbands and medication labels as an area of need.

“We chose Access Intelligent Forms Suite to meet our forms, wristband and medication barcoding requirements,” said Deb McGraw, VP, Nursing/Patient Care Services at Nason.“The forms barcoding that Access Intelligent Forms Suite provides allows our HIM staff to get forms into Siemens EDM easily,” McGraw said. “This has helped us incorporate e-forms into the patient’s electronic record.”

As it is generating e-forms on demand, Access Intelligent Forms Suite also produces barcoded patient wristbands, which has helped the Special Delivery Unit to improve their patient safety efforts.“We utilize the Access solution to produce a mother's armband, two baby armbands and a crib card with the same ID number,” McGraw said. “This number is used prior to discharge to ensure that the correct mother and baby are paired before leaving the hospital and the mother signs that this comparison has been completed.”

About Nason Hospital
For over a century, Nason Hospital has been providing services to meet the healthcare needs of surrounding communities in Blair, Bedford, and Huntingdon counties. Located in a peaceful rural area in the hills of Pennsylvania, the facility provides an ideal setting for patients' care, and their families' and visitors' comfort.

About Access
Access is the world’s leading electronic forms (e-forms) management, automation and workflow software provider. Our solutions transform any paper-intensive forms process into a paperless, collaborative workflow. Hundreds of hospitals worldwide are using Access solutions to improve patient care and safety, cut costs and enhance electronic health records (EHR), patient safety and downtime planning initiatives.