Does your facility have a 'patient-safe' climate?

Although it's difficult to measure an institution's culture, it is possible to measure the factors that affect patient safety, says quality consultant Patrice Spath, RHIT. Areas to evaluate include management systems, safety systems, and individual attitudes and perceptions about patient safety improvement. In this month's Quality-Co$t Connection, Spath examines the elements that contribute to a patient-safe climate.     

Continuity of care means better instruction on meds

Patients' lack of compliance with therapeutic treatment regimens is often overlooked as a continuity-of-care problem, argues columnist Patrice Spath. In this month's Quality-Co$t Connection, Spath offers advice on determining whether your facility offers patients clear and complete medication information and how to improve the transfer of information to patients.     

Analyze process changes to identify system failures

In this month's Quality-Co$t Connection, consulting editor Patrice Spath, RHIT, emphasizes that undesirable patient incidents are often caused by slight changes in the usual process of care. Deviations in system operations can be planned and desired or unintended and unwanted. Change analysis can help you analyze the effects of such deviations and can be a useful tool during sentinel event investigations.