The Joint Commission has announced the 2009 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for each of its accreditation programs and its Disease-Specific Care Certification Program. The National Patient Safety Goals promote specific improvements in patient safety by providing healthcare organizations with proven solutions to persistent patient safety problems, according to a Joint Commission release. The goals apply to the more than 15,000 Joint Commission-accredited and -certified healthcare organizations and programs.
A number of hospitals and healthcare centers are stepping up education and implementing stricter procedures in the fight to combat MRSA, although some believe health facilities aren't doing nearly enough to reduce the risk of the drug-resistant bacteria. Some are now calling for increased staffing and greater resources to meet the demand of public scrutiny over hospital-acquired infections.
Psychiatric patients who need hospitalization wait for hours in emergency departments for admission because hospitals are dropping mental health units and beds are scarce, according to a survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians. Nearly 80% of hospitals said mentally ill patients sometimes wait four hours or more to be admitted, and about 10% said patients wait more than a day on average. Average admission times for non-psychiatric patients were shorter, and 84% of the medical directors said ER wait times for all patients would drop if their hospitals had better psychiatric services.
The first step to helping emergency room patients feel better could be telling them how long they'll have to wait, according to a national survey conducted by healthcare consulting firm Press Ganey. The survey of more than 1.5 million patients in over 1,600 ERs found that although satisfaction decreased the longer a patient waited, consistent communication with ER staff helped people feel comfortable and cared for.
West Virginia University has fired a consulting firm that had cited severe medical and financial problems confronting the university's $1 billion healthcare enterprise. Fred R. Butcher, interim vice president of WVU's Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, said an interim report by R&V Associates contained "many errors of fact and understanding." The report on the university cited "alarming deficiencies" in cardiovascular surgery; "serious leadership and productivity issues" in the anesthesia department, which will post an estimated loss of $12 million to $14 million this fiscal year; and an "alarming lack of surgeons."
A jury has awarded a Lauderhill, FL, family $35 million in a medical malpractice lawsuit that accused Broward General Medical Center of causing irreversible brain damage to their child by botching the delivery. Following the verdict, the hospital district that operates Broward General released a statement saying that while it wishes to extend its condolences to the family, the district is "deeply disappointed with the verdict and are currently evaluating and considering our options regarding this matter going forward."