Category: Patient Safety & Outcomes

San Diego hospital improperly documented patient who died after leaving ICU: State report

While findings by the California Department of Health stopped short of holding a San Diego metro area hospital responsible for failing to detain a patient who died shortly after leaving the facility, the department did file a “statement of deficiencies…

UNOS extends deadline for transplant group, preserving 63 hospitals' access to organs

More than 60 research hospitals — including Duke, Stanford and the University of California at San Francisco — could soon lose access to organ screening and quick transportation arrangements for transplants as provider Buckeye Transplant Services is in…

After ICU discharge, Alzheimer's patients' risk of dying doubles: Study

Older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia are twice as likely to die within a month or during the year following discharge from an intensive care unit compared to patients discharged from the ICU who do not have ADRD, according to a st…

Perinatal care measure will be optional for in 2024: Joint Commission

CMS will remove the perinatal care electronic clinical quality measure ePC-05 (exclusive breast milk feeding during the newborn’s entire hospitalization) from the Inpatient Quality Reporting Program on Jan. 1, 2024.

How hospitals can improve chances for Joint Commission re-accreditation

The Joint Commission identified the most challenging compliance standards — those most frequently listed as “not compliant” in hospitals — in 2022, according to surveys completed from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2022.

Patients should stop taking new diabetes, weight loss drugs before surgery: New guidance

Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy and other GLP-1 receptor agonists should not be taken before elective surgeries because of a possible risk of vomiting and food entering a patient’s airway and lungs, the American Society of Anesthesiologists said June 29.&nbs…

The blood type linked to higher COVID-19 risk

People with type A blood are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19 compared to those with type O, according to research published June 27 in the journal Blood. 

Mayo Clinic: Genetic testing access will improve rare disease research

Improving access to genetic testing and counseling for the more than 30 million Americans who are living with a rare disease could improve research and ultimately patient outcomes, according to a study led by Mayo Clinic researchers.

Miami VA moves dozens of patients due to extreme heat, broken AC

As temperatures climb to dangerous highs in areas of the Southern U.S., including in South Florida, employees from a Miami VA hospital said they are concerned about ongoing issues with the facility’s air conditioning system and how the machine’s faults…

California officials deny Stanford affiliate's correction plan over PICU issues

A May 16 corrective action plan submitted by John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Calif., a Stanford Medicine affiliate, was denied by the Department of Health Care Services after finding that “not all of John Muir Health’s proposed plans of corre…