March 2008, Volume 2, Number 2

Welcome to the March issue of Hot-Off-the-Press, Joint Commission Resources’ monthly e-zine, providing up-to-date information on our latest periodicals, books, and services. Designed to provide access to recently released articles and books to keep you ahead of all the traffic on the health care information highway, this e-zine will provide articles with information regarding:
        ·   Standards compliance issues and updates
        ·   Environment of Care^Ò news
        ·   Patient safety
        ·   Quality improvement

Stay abreast of the information highway and visit Hot-Off-the-Press often, as each issue features:

Recently released JCR books, toolkits, CD-ROMs, and more
Audioconference tapes and e-Books
Upcoming training seminars

Check out these NEW articles from our most recent periodicals:

How Often are Potential Patient Safety Events Present on Admission?
For patients at high risk of function-limiting or life-limiting disease, the time elapsed between first clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment can influence the likelihood of treatment success. This article examines a systematic change in the management of high-risk patients at a VA hospital. This approach includes identifying primary provider responsibility, establishing communication expectations between providers, developing a tracking system to actively monitor patients (patient traffic control), and using a time guideline to assess patient progression.

To read the full text of this article, click here.

Preventing Accidents and Injuries in the MRI Suite
This article discusses adverse events caused by failures in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suite. Also included are strategies and recommendations for reducing MRI accidents.

To read the full text of this article, click here.

Medication Safety with the Use of Chemotherapy Agents
Each year in the United States, approximately 1.2 million people are diagnosed with cancer. Medication errors among cancer patients are no more common than other medication errors, but the toxic effects of chemotherapy increase the potential for patient harm when errors do occur. This article discusses the types of errors associated with chemotherapy agents, strategies to prevent errors, and ways to properly train staff to reduce errors.

To read the full text of this article, click here.

By the Numbers Part I: Medical Error Data Collection and Reporting
Performance improvement professionals, providers, and administrators in all sectors of health care are focusing attention on data capture and analysis, information sharing, and solutions for what are interchangeably called mistakes, near misses, errors, or serious adverse (sentinel) events. This article discusses the benefits of error data collection and reporting, and how you can get involved.

To read the full text of this article, click here.

Sharps Safety: Using Blunt-Tip Needles to Prevent Injury in the Operating Room
Needlestick injuries are one of the most serious hazards faced by health care workers because they expose personnel to bloodborne pathogens. This article discusses the hazards of sharp surgical instruments in the operating room and ways to reduce the danger by using blunt-tip needles. Also included is a discussion of The Joint Commission and OSHA requirements related to bloodborne pathogens.

To read the full text of this article, click here.

Medical Staff Communication: Cornerstone of Care Coordination—Standard MS.2.20
This article discusses the methods for complying with Standard MS.2.20 and the importance of structured communication techniques to convey the proper information at the correct time to the correct people.

To read the full text of this article, click here.

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March 2008, Volume 2, Number 2

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