Pediatric Infections
June 16, 2020
[4 MIN READ] Every day, ED physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurses are confronted with pediatric patients suffering from infections. Thankfully, most are self-limited respiratory or gastrointestinal viral infections. Symptomatic and supportive care may be necessary, but antibiotics are not usually indicated; minor infections such as otitis media, impetigo, pharyngitis and uncomplicated urinary tract…Read More
Increasing Hospital Profitability by Improving Physician Engagement
May 27, 2020
7 minute read It appeared to be a typical, run-of-the-mill board meeting at Hospital System “X.” Patient admissions had been slowly on the rise; healthcare teams seemed to be handling the increasing demand for services as the hospital facility continued to display an inviting appearance. Early in the meeting, the hospital CFO presented the data…Read More
7 Steps to Improving Patient Experience
May 12, 2020
[4 MIN READ] Every patient – regardless of the time of day or department to which they present – needs to encounter a high-quality experience. Improving patient experience and ensuring its consistency involves reducing the variability between departments, clinicians and shifts. To achieve this high goal, you need to get buy-in from the entire clinical…Read More
Surgical Error Cases
April 13, 2020
[8 MIN READ] We are all fallible. Despite their best efforts, physicians, nurses, other healthcare workers, and indeed all humans, make errors. It is an essential component of our being. It is widely accepted that a systems approach to error prevention can counteract this fallibility. Nonetheless, errors do occur. These failures can often be explained…Read More
Obstacles to Implementing Emergency Department Triage Practice
March 31, 2020
After investing in an ongoing triage training program, some emergency department (ED) managers and educators become frustrated due to gaps in the application of that education. The goal of triage is to rapidly identify and sort patients to ensure they receive the appropriate care in the right amount of time. Updated triage practice protocol and…Read More
Minimizing Spread of COVID-19 in the Obstetrics Unit
March 20, 2020
[9 MIN READ] Updated: March 18, 2020 Working on the front lines of an obstetric unit is fraught with vulnerability and uncertainty during these early stages of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Your obstetric team has never before been so codependent in maintaining safety for you and your entire community. Arming yourself and teammates with the…Read More
Triage Tips for the COVID-19 Outbreak
March 9, 2020
[3 MIN READ] In addition to ED volume surges during this flu season, we are now also challenged with concerns related to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Here are some triage tips and considerations to keep in mind. Review your department triage policies and procedures to determine if your organization has made any addenda to them in…Read More
Case: How to Disclose Medical Errors to a Patient's Family
February 18, 2020
Do your clinicians have a plan for how to address a patient’s family if a medical error occurs? Consider this true case that was shared with me by a California risk manager – a routine test that goes tragically wrong: “Mrs. Woods is a 53-year old woman who goes to the hospital for a CT-guided…Read More
5 Tips to Reduce Stress as an Obstetric Nurse
February 5, 2020
Is there really such a thing as a normal day on the OB unit? Highly doubtful. Unpredictability and uncertainty loom from the beginning of your shift to the end. But what if you could achieve some control over your day and try to decrease both your personal stress level and the stress of those in…Read More
Measuring Clinical Performance Improvement in Obstetrics
January 7, 2020
As heightened U.S. maternal morbidity and mortality rates gain national attention, AWHONN and ACOG, as well as state perinatal quality collaboratives, notably California, have emphasized that hospitals need to focus on improving outcomes with specific attention to the leading causes of maternal mortality. The RSQ® Assessment – Obstetrics provides the framework for the creation of…Read More
