******************************************************
THE POINT OF CARE
******************************************************
Barcode-Enabled Point-of-Care Technology - Protecting the
Patient in All of
Us.
Volume 2, Issue 4 - Winter 2002
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CONTENTS
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SPECIAL DELIVERY
+ White Paper Reviews Evidence of Barcoding Efficacy
LEGISLATIVE & REGULATORY
+ HHS Secretary calls for health care IT funding
+ Pressure growing to get Pharmas to utilize Barcode
technology
+ Government should take lead to improve quality of care
+ IOM says Gov't Should Fund Demos
+ JCAHO seeks suggestions for future patient safety goals
+ JCAHO TO REQUIRE patient information at your fingertips
RESEARCH
+ Drug Dosing Is Major Cause of Hospital Errors
+ Adverse Drug Events and Malpractice Claims, Analyzed
+ Medical rounds with pharmacists equate fewer medication
errors
+ Reporting Medication Errors Through Computerized
Medication Administration
+ Hospital prescribing errors more than double across 5-year
period
+ Identifying Clinically Significant Preventable Adverse
Drug Events
+ Physician Experience Linked to Prescribing Errors in
Pediatric ED
+ Study Finds Quality Care Can Be Good Business
TAKING ACTION
+ AHA, others unveil safety tools designed to cut
medication errors
+ ISMP to Distribute Award-winning Bridge Beyond Blame
Documentary
+ B. Braun Medical Inc. Launches 'Ask the B. Braun Safety
Expert' Program
+ Nurses' hotline may help trim errors
+ Heart Association Speaks Up on Medication Errors
+ Poll Shows Hospitals Making Effort to Improve Patient
Safety
+ ISMP launches monthly newsletter for consumers
+ New web site on patient safety
+ Baxter Takes on the Bar Code Problem
+ American Pharmaceutical Partners Show Commitment To
Barcoding
+ Task forces formed for national health information
Coordination
+ NAHIT announces board members
BPOC IN THE NEWS
+ Miami Children's Hospital
+ CIO Roundtable: Ensuring patient safety
+ Robotic innovations speed recovery time, reduce medical
errors
+ Three Trinity Hospitals to Implement BPOC Technology
+ Shepherd Center Tests BPOC System
+ Need for software savvy in push for patient safety
+ CAMC spending $12 million to replace computers at 3
hospitals
+ UW Hospital BPOC Study Reports 87 Percent Error
Reduction
+ Codes of Help
+ Drug Safety Key Issue at Atlanta Pharmacy Conference
+ Memorial Healthcare System Offers Safer Medication
+ Danville Regional Advances BPOC system use
+ Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center barcoded bracelets
+ OSU Medical Center Expands medication safety program
+ IOM says VA Health System is 'Best in the Nation'
+ Fighting Medical Errors on a Binary Battlefield.
+ Phlebotomy collection identification products
CAUSE FOR CONCERN
+ NCQA: Quality Of Care Better, Concerns Remain
+ Survey Released on Medical Errors
+ California Regulators fault hospital for
Heparin-related Patient Death
+ Checking Up on Medical Mistakes
+ No End to Errors
GRANTS
+ IT projects funded under $3M AHRQ grants
+ $1.5 Million Grant goes to Valley hospital effort to
reduce errors
+ RWJF program to fund health care IT research
+ HHS awards $5.9 million contract to improve patient
safety data collection
BRIDGE NEWS
+ AmerisourceBergen Finalizes Purchase of Bridge Medical,
Inc
+ VHA to Measure Impact of Bridge Barcode Patient Safety
System
+ SSM Health Care First to Win the Malcolm Baldridge
Quality Award
+ Venture Company of the Year?
+ "The Impact of IT on Patient Safety" named
HIMSS book of the year!
EVENTS
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SPECIAL DELIVERY
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WHITE PAPER REVIEWS EVIDENCE OF BARCODING EFFICACY
Bridge's new white paper reviews evidence of "The
Effect of Barcode-enabled
Point of Care Technology on Patient Safety."
Notes Institute for Safe Medication Practices President
Michael R. Cohen,
RPh, MS, DSc, FASHP, in the foreword: "As
stakeholders in the quality
improvement of this nation's healthcare, we must
recognize the vulnerability
of the patient in all of us. When a practice or
technology exists that is
proven to reduce error, it is our shared responsibility
to communicate its
efficacy. A technology has begun to take center stage
demonstrating
impressive results and demanding our attention. Barcode
enabled
point-of-care (BPOC) systems provide a safeguard against
error at the most
vulnerable stage in the medication use process-during
administration.
Peer-reviewed studies validating BPOC technology
efficacy, industry movement
to establish a healthcare barcoding standard, and the
announcement of a
future FDA ruling mandating manufacturer-applied barcodes
testify to BPOC
systems' coming of age. Its effective use can save lives
and dollars while
increasing overall staff efficiency."
In addition to describing how BPOC systems can be used to
prevent medication
administration errors in the hospital setting, the Bridge
literature review
examines the efficacy of barcoding in preventing blood
transfusion and
laboratory specimen collection errors. A free copy is
available at:
http://www.bridgemedical.com/pdf/whitepaper_barcode.pdf
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LEGISLATIVE & REGULATORY
******************************************************
HHS SECRETARY CALLS FOR HEALTH CARE IT FUNDING
iHealthBeat, December 10, 2002
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson has proposed federal funding
to increase the
health care industry's use of information technology, USA
Today reported.
Thompson urged Congress to pass a "mini Hill-Burton
law" to fund hospitals'
deployment of IT applications; the 1946 Hill-Burton Act
provided grants to
modernize hospitals that had become outdated.
Thompson also proposed that the government create
standards and provide
funding for technologies that could reduce paperwork and
improve medical
care. The FDA, for example, will issue a rule requiring
pharmaceutical
companies to label medications with bar codes that could
be linked to a bar
code on a patient's wrist band, ensuring proper drug
administration,
Thompson said.
PRESSURE GROWING TO GET PHARMAS TO UTILIZE BARCODE
TECHNOLOGY
ePharm5, October 3, 2002
Following Abbott Laboratory's announcement in July that
it would put
barcodes on all of its injectable drugs and IV solutions
by 2003, Pfizer has
decided to follow suit, according to a report in Drug
Topics. In addition to
the National Drug Code (NDC), manufacturer information
and package size
planned for Abbott's barcode, Pfizer will also include
the lot number and
expiration date on unit-dose blisterpacks.
While VA hospitals have experienced a reduction in
medication errors since
implementing barcodes and bedside scanning, whether or
not other pharmcos
will adopt the technology remains a question. However,
Drug Topics reports
that pressure to implement barcodes from interest groups
eager to reduce
medical errors will continue to grow.
GOVERNMENT SHOULD TAKE LEAD TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF CARE
iHealthBeat,
October 30, 2002
The federal government should offer financial incentives
to providers who
improve care and make data comparing quality of care
publicly available,
according to a report released by the Institute of
Medicine (IOM). The
report, which examined safety and quality in six
government health care
programs, also called for government support to develop
computerized
clinical and patient records and a national health
information
infrastructure.
Link:
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/news.nsf/isbn/0309086163?OpenDocument
IOM SAYS GOV'T SHOULD FUND DEMOS
Information technology is one of a handful of areas
offering the greatest
potential for improving the American health care system,
according to a new
report from the Institute of Medicine, "Fostering
Rapid Advances in Health
Care: Learning from System Demonstrations," that
recommends demonstration
projects-with substantial government funding-In five
areas. They include
I.T., expanded insurance coverage, malpractice reform,
chronic disease
management and primary care enhancement.
The report recommends up to 10 initial demonstration
projects and 25
second-generation projects to develop information systems
that virtually
eliminate paper-based processes in demonstration sites
within five years.
Link: www.nap.edu/catalog/10565.html?onpi_newsdoc1192002
JCAHO SEEKS SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE PATIENT SAFETY GOALS
The Joint Commission has provided an online form on the
JCAHO website with
which you may make a suggestion for future patient safety
goals.
Link:
http://www.jcaho.org/accredited+organizations/patient+safety/npsg/npsg_alt.h
tm
JCAHO TO REQUIRE PATIENT INFORMATION AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
It's common practice for caregivers to obtain important
patient information
when dispensing medications. But with the proposed
revision of the JCAHO's
medication standard TX.3.2, the accreditor more clearly
specifies what
medical information caregivers need to consider. According to the draft
standard TX.3.2, "health care professionals involved
in the medication use
process have access to and use patient and medication
information important
in the prescribing, dispensing, administration and
monitoring of
medications."
Reviews will be looking to see that the prescriber,
pharmacist, and
appropriate clinical staff receive, have readily
available access to and use
of pertinent data at the time of prescribing, dispensing
or administering
medications. Examples of minimum information that should
be readily
available include the following:
+ Age
+ Weight
+ Diagnosis
+ Co-morbidities (e.g., renal failure, diabetes)
+ Pregnancy and lactation status
+ Medication allergies and past sensitivities
+ Current medications, including prescription,
over-the-counter, herbal
medications, and home remedies used as an alternative to
other medications.
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RESEARCH
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DRUG DOSING IS MAJOR CAUSE OF HOSPITAL ERRORS
The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, December 4, 2002
Although most hospital medication mistakes are discovered
and corrected
quickly, some are fatal, reported a study released by the
U.S.
Pharmacopeia's Center for the Advancement of Patient
Safety. The study found
that 2.4%, of the medication errors documented in 2001 by
participating
American hospitals resulted in patient injury or
fatality.
The study attributes the errors largely to workload
increases for doctors
and nurses. Distractions were the most common cause of
error but were often
combined with other factors. Inexperienced or inadequate
staff accounted for
about 43% of the factors contributing to errors, an
increase from 33% in
2000 and 27% in 1999.
Data for the study were voluntarily provided by 368
health-care facilities
across the country and compiled by MedMARx, a database
administered by U.S.
Pharmacopeia.
Link: http://www.usp.org/
ADVERSE DRUG EVENTS AND MALPRACTICE CLAIMS, ANALYZED
A study published in Archives of Internal Medicine
conducted a retrospective
analysis of malpractice insurance company claims records
from January 1,
1990, to December 31, 1999. Each case was screened for possible Adverse
Drug Events (ADEs).
Results of the study showed that ADEs represented 6.3
percent of claims. ADEs were judged preventable in 73
percent of the cases
and were nearly evenly divided between outpatient and
inpatient settings.
Link:
http://archinte.ama-assn.org/issues/v162n21/rfull/ioi10847.html
(Subscription Required)
MEDICAL ROUNDS WITH PHARMACISTS EQUATE FEWER MEDICATION
ERRORS
According to a study in the Nov. 1 issue of the American
Journal of
Health-System Pharmacy, pharmacist participation in daily
medical rounds
reduced medication errors by 51%. Nearly 80% of the
patients in the control
group had a medication error, the study found. It noted
that the mean length
of stay, cost and mortality nearly double for patients
with an adverse drug
reaction.
Link: http://www.ashp.org/public/pubs/ajhp. (subscription
required)
REPORTING MEDICATION ERRORS THROUGH COMPUTERIZED
MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION
Low DK, Belcher JV. Comput Inform Nurs 2002
Sep-Oct;20(5):178-183
The purpose of this study was to compare medication error
rate per 1,000
doses administered before and after the implementation of
a barcode
medication administration system. The study was conducted
on two
medical-surgical units at a Midwest government hospital
12 months both
before and after the implementation of the Bar Code
Medication
Administration system. The medication error rate per
1,000 doses
administered by a nurse after implementation of the Bar
Code Medication
Administration system showed an 18% increase. The results
probably do not
indicate an increase in medication errors but rather an
increase in the
number of medication errors reported. This research
highlights problems with
programs evaluating medication errors and new technology
implementation.
HOSPITAL PRESCRIBING ERRORS MORE THAN DOUBLE ACROSS
5-YEAR PERIOD
Journal of General Internal Medicine
2002;17:579-587.
Based on a review of dosage form errors at one hospital
during that 5-year
period, Dr. Timothy S. Lesar of the Albany Medical Center
in Albany, New
York, found that the rate of these errors increased from
slightly higher
than 0.6 for each 100 patients in 1996 to 1.3 per 100
patients in 2000.
Given these findings, Lesar writes that patients admitted
to the hospital
are "at risk for adverse outcomes due to prescribing
errors."
As to why the rate of these errors appears to be on the
rise, the researcher
told Reuters Health that more medications are now
available in different
forms, which increases the chance that mistakes will
occur.
IDENTIFYING CLINICALLY SIGNIFICANT PREVENTABLE ADVERSE
DRUG EVENTS
Winterstein AG, Hatton RC, Gonzalez-Rothi R et al.
American Journal of
Health-System Pharmacy
This study analyzed the ability of a hospital's adverse
drug reaction (ADR)
database to identify common and repeated patterns of
preventable adverse
drug events (ADEs). Although 93 drugs were associated
with ADEs, only 10
drugs accounted for more than 60% of the events. Analysis
and categorization
by type of error and outcome suggested that three
high-priority preventable
ADEs accounted for 50% of all reports:
(1) overdoses
of anti-coagulants or insufficient monitoring and
adjustments (according to laboratory test values) were
associated with
hemorrhagic events,
(2) overdosing
or failure to adjust for drug-drug interactions of opiate
agonists was associated with somnolence and respiratory
depression, and
(3) inappropriate
dosing or insufficient monitoring of insulins was
associated with hypoglycemia.
PHYSICIAN EXPERIENCE LINKED TO PRESCRIBING ERRORS IN
PEDIATRIC ED
ECRI's Healthcare Risk Control Weekly News, October 9,
2002
Prescribing errors were found in 10% of patients in a
pediatric emergency
department at a Toronto, Ontario, Canada hospital,
according to a review in
the October 2002 Pediatrics. The review found that a
physician's level of
training was the most significant risk factor for errors.
Medical trainees
were more likely to commit the errors than staff
physicians, although error
rates among trainees decreased as the academic year
progressed. In addition,
errors were most likely to occur between 4 and 8 a.m. and
on weekends.
STUDY FINDS QUALITY CARE CAN BE GOOD BUSINESS
The Virginia Health Quality Center released results of a
national study
demonstrating that quality improvement activities can
have business benefits
for hospitals and physician offices. The study,
"Making the Case for the
Business Benefits of Health Care Quality Improvement
Program Projects,"
shows that in addition to better patient care, quality
improvement projects
can provide direct and indirect financial rewards to
hospitals and physician
offices, including increases in revenue and improved
efficiency.
The study also found that:
+ Improved efficiency reduced average hospital length of
stay and decreased
staffing costs.
+ Higher profits result from greater patient volume,
increased
reimbursements due to higher intensity patient visits,
and increased use of
ancillary services in physician offices.
+ Quality has other benefits including enhanced
reputation, improved
employee retention, improved physician satisfaction,
satisfaction of
accreditation requirements for quality improvement, and
reduced exposure to
liability as a result of reduced errors.
Link: http://www.vhqc.org/.
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TAKING ACTION
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AHA, OTHERS UNVEIL SAFETY TOOLS DESIGNED TO CUT
MEDICATION ERRORS
A set of tools designed to reduce medication errors and
help hospitals take
a system-based approach to address such errors was
released at the 37th
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear
Clinical Meeting. The
tools -- Pathways for Medication Safety -- were developed
by the AHA, the
Health Research and Educational Trust and the Institute
for Safe Medication
Practices with support from The Commonwealth Fund.
Organized in a modular
format to suit different organizations and professionals,
the three main
Pathways components will help hospital leaders plan for
medication safety;
identify error-prone processes; and prepare to implement
a bedside
bar-coding system for administering medications.
Pathways for Medication Safety is available free of
charge at
http://www.medpathways.info/.
ISMP TO DISTRIBUTE AWARD-WINNING BRIDGE BEYOND BLAME
DOCUMENTARY
On Dec. 9, 1997, "Beyond Blame" premiered in
Atlanta. The ten-minute film
premiered at Atlanta's historic Fox Theater during the
1997 Midyear Clinical
Meeting of the American Society of Health-System
Pharmacists. Since then, it
has been distributed by the American Hospital Association
to all its members
and used by Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals in
new employee
training. An estimated 15,000 copies have been
distributed in total.
In December, Beyond Blame producer Bridge Medical
officially donated
exclusive Beyond Blame distribution rights, and all
ensuing video revenues,
to the Institute for Safe Medical Practices.
B. BRAUN MEDICAL INC. LAUNCHES 'ASK THE B. BRAUN SAFETY
EXPERT' PROGRAM
Business Wire, Tuesday, October 15, 2002
B. Braun Medical Inc. introduced its Ask the B. Braun
Safety Expert program,
a free service designed to provide clinicians and
healthcare consumers with
answers to questions about some of today's most pressing
healthcare safety
issues. By dialing 1-888-800-6668 or by sending an email
to
SafetyExpert@bbraunusa.com, individuals will have access
to B. Braun's panel
of safety experts comprised of clinicians and nurses with
practical
experience in handling numerous patient and clinician
safety issues. B.
Braun safety experts are available to answer questions
across the spectrum -
from basic safety questions like "What is the cost
of medication errors in
the U.S. today?" to more complex safety issues like
"How can barcoding IV
solutions reduce medication errors at the point of
care?" In the near
future, individuals will also have access to the Ask the
B. Braun Safety
Expert program through the company's web site,
http://www.bbraunusa.com.
NURSES' HOTLINE MAY HELP TRIM ERRORS
The Denver Post Monday, November 25, 2002
Operating room nurses worried that procedures aren't
being followed or that
medications may be labeled in a way that causes confusion
now have a place
to turn for help.
The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses has
set up a toll-free hotline that nurses can call with all
kinds of concerns.
The hotline is part of a comprehensive program aimed at
helping nurses
reduce the number of errors in patient care. When a nurse
calls the hotline
he or she leaves a message and an association nurse calls
back with an
answer or advice within 24 hours. Nurses can also e-mail
the association
with questions and concerns.
HEART ASSOCIATION SPEAKS UP ON MEDICATION ERRORS
The American Heart Association, in a scientific statement
issued Nov. 12 and
published in Circulation, said the medical community
"can reduce the
frequency and clinical impact of medication errors by
enhancing error
detection rates, using appropriate methods for reporting
errors, and
implementing safer methods of drug ordering, dispensing,
and tracking."
Link:
http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/106/20/2623 (subscription
required)
POLL SHOWS HOSPITALS MAKING EFFORT TO IMPROVE PATIENT
SAFETY
PR Newswire, Thursday, October 24, 2002
In the face of a work force shortage that contributes to
medical errors,
90%of poll respondents at the Partnership Symposium 2002:
Smart Designs for
Patient Safety in Washington, D.C. said they believe
their organizations
have made a credible effort to improve patient safety.
More than a third of
the respondents said that hospital pharmacies are
addressing patient safety
the best within their organizations. Sixty-four percent
of attendees
responding to the poll indicated that in addition to a
committed effort to
improve patient safety, health care organizations have
embraced technology
as a tool to facilitate improvements. According to the
survey, most commonly
used tools include barcoding, bedside computer stations,
robotic pharmacy
carts, and online error reporting mechanisms.
ISMP LAUNCHES MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FOR CONSUMERS
The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has announced
a new,
easy-to-read newsletter called "Safe Medicine,"
designed especially for
patients and nonclinical hospital employees. This monthly
publication
focuses exclusively on preventing medication errors.
Link: http://www.ismp.org/ConsumerArticles/index.htm.
NEW WEB SITE ON PATIENT SAFETY
Healthcare professionals involved in patient safety
improvement activities
will soon have a new resource - an online case-based
journal and forum on
patient safety and healthcare quality. Supported by a
contract from the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, WebM&M is
designed to educate
healthcare providers about medical errors in an engaging,
anonymous, and
blame-free environment.
Link: http://webmm.ahrq.gov/
BAXTER TAKES ON THE BAR CODE PROBLEM
HealthData Management, December 10, 2002
Baxter Healthcare Corp. has introduced bar code
technology for flexible IV
bags that includes lot number and expiration date
information. A lot number
helps identify and track batches of product, which is
critical in pulling
products subject to a recall.
Until now, the industry has had difficulty putting lot
number and expiration
date information on bar codes for a number of technical
reasons. Now, Baxter
has developed computer-controlled printing technology
that uses heat
transfer to apply a bar code directly to the IV bag. The
code can be updated
via the computer keyboard, enabling real-time ability to
modify a code to
include a lot number and expiration date. Baxter calls
the new technology
Enlightened Bar Coding.
Link: http://www.baxter.com/.
AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL PARTNERS SHOW COMMITMENT TO BARCODING
BUSINESS WIRE, Dec. 6, 2002
American Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. (APP), is leading
the pharmaceutical
industry with its commitment to enhancing patient safety
and reducing
medication errors in hospitals by being the first to
apply barcodes at the
unit-of-use level to all new injectable products launched
in 2001, including
the smallest 2mL vials. APP continued this patient
quality enhancement
effort throughout 2002. With 70% of APP's products
already barcoded, APP now
reaffirms its commitment to complete this initiative. The
company expects to
be manufacturing the remaining hospital injectables with
barcodes by Jan. 1,
2003.
Establishing a system-wide barcoding initiative within a
healthcare facility
is a huge undertaking that requires the commitment of
already scarce
monetary and human resources. To make the implementation
as seamless and
cost-efficient as possible for its customers, two years
ago APP decided to
begin incorporating barcodes on drug vials at the
individual unit-of-use
level with the most common symbology used today--UPC.
This symbology is the
industry standard and therefore compatible with virtually
all barcode
scanners currently on the market.
TASK FORCES FORMED FOR NATIONAL HEALTH INFORMATION
COORDINATION
iHealthBeat, October 17, 2002
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
announced a task
force charged with developing plans for a national health
information
infrastructure. The NHII Task Force will first examine
the current state of
health care information technology and identify areas for
development. The
group is also charged with developing a prototype NHII
and incorporating
feedback from HIMSS members and other health care
leaders.
The National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, an
advisory body to
HHS, is also examining ways to develop a NHII. In
December 2001, NCVHS
released a report that outlined ways that government,
industry, advocacy
groups and consumer organizations could work together to
build a health
information system.
HIMSS Link: http://www.himss.org/ASP/ContentRedirector.asp?ContentId=22401
NCVHS Link: http://ncvhs.hhs.gov/nhiilayo.pdf
NAHIT ANNOUNCES BOARD MEMBERS
The National Alliance for Health Information Technology
announced the
appointment of its inaugural board of directors. The
NAHIT board, which
includes Bridge Medical President and CEO John B.
Grotting, is responsible
for strategic planning, establishing an agenda of project
priorities, and
oversight of the organization and its key deliverables.
The Alliance works
to develop voluntary standards for health information
technology.
For a list of board members go to:
http://www.bridgemedical.com/news_2002_37.shtml.
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BPOC IN THE NEWS
******************************************************
MIAMI CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
Excerpts from The Miami Herald Nov. 13, 2002
Miami Children's Hospital is the first freestanding
pediatric hospital in
Florida to use MedPoint, a barcode-based computer system
that verifies the
''five rights'' of administering medicine -- the right
patient, the right
drug, the right dose, the right time that it should be
given and checks for
safe levels.
Medicine bar coding has been done since the 1980s, but it
started taking off
when a 1999 report by the Institute of Medicine showed
that improper
administration of medications in hospitals was alarmingly
high -- about 30
percent, according to Connie Chan, director of pharmacy
at Miami Children's.
''The whole purpose of technology is to minimize human
error. This will
force the human side to acknowledge the process,'' Chan
said.
The barcoding system is especially valuable for pediatric
wards because it's
harder to give children standard doses of medicines. Now,
with the MedPoint
system, doses will be determined by volume and weight.
Miami Children's
nurse Cheryl Topps said the MedPoint barcoding system has
taken into
consideration the tiniest of infant patients.
Link:
http://www.bridgemedical.com/media_cov_11_13_02.shtml
CIO ROUNDTABLE: ENSURING PATIENT SAFETY
ADVANCE for Health Information Executives, Nov. 2002
In a recent issue of ADVANCE for Health Information
Executives, CIO
panelists-including John Hummel-discussed how they are
safeguarding patients
and how quality initiatives are streamlining processes.
Hummel is CIO/SVP of
information technology at Sutter Health, a Sacramento
(Calif.)-based health
system currently implementing the Bridge MedPoint
barcode-enabled point of
care system at 26 hospitals in northern California.
"The bottom line so far for Sutter has been that we
need to look beyond CPOE
for patient safety. We need to look at our timelines and
determine what we
can do to make the biggest impact in the shortest time
for patient safety.
CPOE will get done, but requires such a huge change in
our physical culture
and training that it will simply take time to
complete," said Hummel.
He continued, "[With CPOE] we still didn't have that
double check at the
point of administration. Thus, with a barcoding system,
we could take that
extra step to help to further reduce or eliminate the ADE
problem in patient
care."
http://www.bridgemedical.com/media_cov_11_02_2.shtml
ROBOTIC INNOVATIONS SPEED RECOVERY TIME, REDUCE MEDICAL
ERRORS
NurseWeek, December 5, 2002
While some hospitals are experimenting with robotic
surgery, others are
tapping into the latest computerized technologies with
high-tech
prescription delivery systems.
Nurses who use this new technology begin by scanning
three things: a bar
code imprinted on the patient's ID, their own ID and the
prescription. These
three codes must match to verify the drug, dose, time and
route.
Hospital medication errors received national attention in
November 1999 when
the Institute of Medicine reported that thousands of
deaths occur in
hospitals as a result of medical errors.
NurseWeek reported on Southwest Washington Medical Center
in Vancouver,
Wash., where nurses are using a new barcode-enabled point
of care (BPOC)
system to safeguard patients from medication errors.
Each month, the medical center prepares an average of
300,000 doses of
medication. BPOC Systems have proved to reduce medication
errors by more
than 80 percent by catching potential errors before they
occur, according to
a study published in the winter edition of the Journal of
Healthcare
Information Management.
In August, California's Sutter Health network of
hospitals announced plans
to implement the new Bridge MedPoint medication delivery
system in all of
their medical centers within the next three years,
reported NurseWeek.
"From a nurse's perspective, I think this is one of
the most exciting new
technologies to be introduced in recent years," said
Susan Bumatay, MSN, RN,
assistant administrator and chief nurse executive at
Sutter Delta Medical
Center in Antioch, Calif., one of the first six Sutter
Health hospitals to
implement the technology.
"The task of routinely administering medication has
become much more complex
in recent years," Bumatay said. "There are more
than 17,000 pharmaceuticals
in use in the United States today, and many of them have
names that look and
sound alike, which can be confusing."
http://www.bridgemedical.com/media_cov_12_5_02.shtml
THREE TRINITY HOSPITALS TO IMPLEMENT BPOC TECHNOLOGY
PRNewswire, December 3, 2002
Three members of the Trinity Health, Novi Michigan, have
made a commitment
to improve patient safety by investing in proven
state-of-the-art scanning
technology.
Saint Agnes Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center - North Iowa
and Mercy Medical Center - Dubuque will each implement a
complete system for
scanning bar coded medications, patient wristbands and
caregiver badges to
ensure the `5 Rights' of medication administration.
Saint Agnes Medical Center, a 330-bed hospital in Fresno,
Calif. became the
first Trinity hospital to contract for a medication
verification system.
According to Lynn Miyamoto, director of clinical systems,
the facility will
implement the system to better ensure compliance with
California's Senate
Bill 1875.
Under the terms of the Bill, on or before January 1, 2005,
California hospitals must implement a formal plan to
eliminate or
substantially reduce medication-related errors.
SHEPHERD CENTER TESTS BPOC SYSTEM
Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia, a 100-bed
catastrophic care hospital
specializing in treating spinal cord injuries, acquired
brain injuries,
multiple sclerosis, and other neuromuscular illnesses and
urological
problems, announced that they will conclude beta testing
of their BPOC
software and they expected to be deployed facility-wide
in mid-January.
NEED FOR SOFTWARE SAVVY IN PUSH FOR PATIENT SAFETY
CAP Today, October 2002
A recent article by Suzanne Butch, chief technologist of
the blood bank and
transfusion service, University of Michigan Health
System, Ann Arbor,
advocates barcoding for transfusion safety. In fact,
Butch contends that,
"the same patient-identification system ideally
should be used throughout
the hospital for all patient care, not just laboratory
specimens and
transfusions."
Link:
http://www.bridgemedical.com/patient_lab_specimen2.shtml
CAMC SPENDING $12 MILLION TO REPLACE COMPUTERS AT 3
HOSPITALS
Charleston Gazette, Wednesday, November 20, 2002
Charleston Area Medical Center officials plan to replace
the computer
information system at the three hospitals at a cost of
$12 million. With new
systems, geared toward patient safety, physicians,
nurses, pharmacists and
others will gradually replace all written orders with
electronic orders,
whether via a hand-held computer or other hardware, to
decrease possible
human mistakes. Prescription medications will contain
barcodes that match
the codes patients wear on identification bracelets.
UW HOSPITAL BPOC STUDY REPORTS 87 PERCENT ERROR REDUCTION
PR Newswire, Wednesday, November 13, 2002
An in-depth study at the University of Wisconsin (UW)
Hospital and Clinics
shows the hospital has reduced medication administration
errors by 87% with
the use of barcode-enabled point of care (BPOC)
verification technology. UW
Hospital is employing a hand-held wireless barcode
scanner that caregivers
use at the point of care to ensure that the five key
aspects of medication
administration are correct, thereby reducing medication
errors. The results
show dramatic improvements in medication administration
and documentation
accuracy, based on a direct observational study of
caregivers by trained
observers.
Following BPOC implementation, the prevalence of wrong
dose, wrong dosage
form and omission errors were observed to decrease by
more than 90%, while
medications given at the wrong time dropped by over 75%.
Other outcomes from the introduction of BPOC technology
included dramatic
improvements in medication administration record
documentation accuracy,
with post-implementation accuracy exceeding 99
percent. Additionally, pre-
and post-implementation nurse satisfaction surveys have
demonstrated a 42
percent overall improvement in nurse satisfaction with
the medication
administration and documentation process, and a 64
percent improvement in
nurse perception of system efficiency and safety.
CODES OF HELP
Newsweek, Monday, November 18, 2002
New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, in a move
designed to cut down on
medical errors, is trying out a new system that uses
barcode scanners to
make sure the right patients are getting the right doses
of intravenous
drugs. The FDA has already started pushing for barcode
labeling on bottles
and packets of oral and injectable medications. But since
a third of
hospital errors occur when IV pumps are programmed
incorrectly--a problem
that wouldn't be entirely solved by the FDA's proposal--
new systems like
the one at Methodist take the concept further by
automating the programming
process. Prescription labels generated in the hospital
pharmacy are stuck to
IV bags. Nurses scan barcodes on the labels to make sure
they match codes on
patient ID tags--and then program the IV pumps by simply
swiping the labels
again.
DRUG SAFETY KEY ISSUE AT ATLANTA PHARMACY CONFERENCE
BW HealthWire, Dec. 3, 2002
Medication safety expert Susanne Larrabee, RPh, shared
her experiences in
using barcode technology to protect patients from medication
errors at the
ASHP Midyear Clinical Meeting in Atlanta. A pioneer in
the development and
implementation of BPOC medication safety technology,
Larrabee discussed the
institutional benefits of a BPOC medication
administration system.
The Northern Michigan Hospital clinical pharmacist and
her colleagues in
Petoskey have been using BPOC technology from Bridge
Medical to protect
patients from preventable medication errors since 1998.
"MedPoint has not
only prevented a significant number of potential errors,
but the information
we have gained through its use has allowed us to do root
cause analysis and
change some of our processes," explained Larrabee,
"insuring that we are
eliminating the sources for potential errors in our
medication delivery
process."
MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM OFFERS SAFER MEDICATION
PR Newswire, Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Memorial Healthcare System (Hollywood, Fla.) will begin
using a new system
to support medication safety during inpatient care. They
system will provide
electronic alerts and replace handwritten processes to
prevent medication
errors. Memorial's immediate goal is to use wireless
barcode scanning
technology, electronic patient information and automated
charting to check
the accuracy of each medication dosage administered to
each patient, and to
automatically record the drug, dose, and time of
administration in the
patient's chart.
DANVILLE REGIONAL ADVANCES BPOC SYSTEM USE
Excerpts from Sublett P. Health Management Technology,
November 2002
Danville Regional Medical Center (DRMC) helped develop a
BPOC application.
The two major technology elements of the system are
wireless computers
containing electronic medical records that are mounted on
a medication cart
and wheeled into the patient's room, and wireless barcode
scanners. The
account of this development process, published in Health
management
Technology, said the biggest implementation hurdle for
many nurses was
getting into the habit of wheeling the wireless computers
into their
patients' rooms every time they administered medication.
There was an eight
to ten week learning curve for the nursing staff to
become comfortable with
the system.
Today, all DRMC nurses use the system, and no DRMC
inpatient anywhere in the
facility receives medication without using the barcode
verification
technology. Since enterprise-wide implementation in early
2002, DRMC has
documented an average of 84 to 264 potential errors
prevented each week. The
system has since earned overwhelming support from the
nursing staff by
relieving their apprehension about making errors,
reducing their
administrative burden, and promoting accurate
documentation and charge
capture, thereby improving efficiency.
An average of 50 phone calls per day to the pharmacy have
been eliminated
because the system facilitates message communication
between nurses and the
pharmacy. Fewer interruptions to the pharmacy order entry
process means a
decreased chance for potential medication errors. The
system also alerts the
nurse if there is any clinical data that must be collected
at the time of
medication administration, which promotes complete
documentation. That
information is transferred to the clinical repository and
enables physicians
to view the patient's complete status at the touch of a
button.
Link: http://www.healthmgttech.com/
SUNRISE HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL CENTER BARCODED BRACELETS
Las Vegas Review-Journal, Monday, October 07, 2002
Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center patients now wear a
barcoded bracelet
that nurses scan to ensure the patient gets the correct
medication in the
correct dose at the appropriate time. The new computer
barcoding system
provides an extra safety check to help prevent medical
mistakes. Nurses scan
the patient's wrist, much like food items are scanned in
a grocery store,
whenever medication is given. The patient's information
then pops up on a
portable computer screen, flashing a warning signal if
anything is amiss.
The scanning system also double checks for any drug
interactions.
Patients admitted to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center
will receive the
special barcoded bracelet upon arrival. The barcode tells
a nurse via
computer the patient's current drug history, any lab work
results, doctors'
orders and the patient's allergies.
Hospital Corporation of America, Sunrise Hospital's
parent company, plans to
incorporate the new technology in all of its 200
facilities nationwide.
Link:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2002/Oct-07-Mon-2002/news/19770735.ht
ml
OSU MEDICAL CENTER EXPANDS MEDICATION SAFETY PROGRAM
PR Newswire, Wednesday, October 23, 2002
The Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUMC) is
ensuring accuracy
throughout the medication-use process, by providing
barcode packaging on ALL
medications.
Newly acquired pharmacy automation systems will provide an
important starting point in the OSUMC strategy for
barcode scanning at the
bedside.
Until that time, the goal is to use barcodes on medications for a
double-check before they leaving the pharmacy.
IOM SAYS VA HEALTH SYSTEM IS 'BEST IN THE NATION'
PR Newswire, Thursday, October 31, 2002
An IOM report, entitled Leadership by Example, lauded
VA's use of
performance measures to improve quality in clinical
disciplines and in
ambulatory, hospital and long-term care.
The IOM report also cited the VA's electronic medical
record system and Bar
Code Medication Administration (BCMA) program as essential tools for
improving health care quality and patient safety. Earlier this year, the
BCMA program won the 2002 Pinnacle Award, a top honor by
the American
Pharmaceutical Association Foundation.
Link:
http://www.houston.med.va.gov/pressreleases/news_20021101a.html
FIGHTING MEDICAL ERRORS ON A BINARY BATTLEFIELD.
Excerpts from Health Data Management, Monday, September
30, 2002
According to Richard Kremsdorf, M.D., president of Five
Rights Consulting
Inc., a San Diego-based health care consulting firm,
hospitals can take
interim error reduction steps in moving toward a
long-term goal of
automating order entry.
"What makes CPOE so advanced is bringing things like
lab data to bear when
physicians write the orders," he says.
"Physician order entry is important,
but I'm not sure it's the place to start. There are
simpler things to do
first and build toward it."
For example, barcode-enabled medication administration
systems and
intravenous drug administration and analysis applications
can provide much
needed patient safety checks.
Vanderbilt University Medical Center helped develop
sophisticated IV pump
technology to prevent errors in medication
administration. The finished pump
analyzes any potential error the system detected during
medication
administration. It also enables clinicians to explain how
the error
occurred, so the medical center can change work processes
to avoid repeating
the mistake.
According to Irene Hatcher, R.N.C., case management
coordinator and chair of the hospital's product and
supplies analysis
committee, the IV system is helping. Intensive care
units, "where a lot of
medication orders are verbal," Hatcher says, are
especially vulnerable to
medication errors. "Even the best CPOE system is not
going to catch all of
those."
Link:
http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/HDMSearchResultsDetails.cfm?DID=13102
PHLEBOTOMY COLLECTION IDENTIFICATION PRODUCTS
MLO-Medical Laboratory Observer, Sept. 2002
Despite breathtaking technological advances in clinical
testing over the
years that have eliminated many sources of human error,
progress in patient
identification and specimen labeling has lagged behind,
with the exception
of the development of preprinted labels. Where once the
phlebotomist had to
handwrite the patient's identification on the tube,
today's laboratory
information systems provide preprinted labels. However,
even when preprinted
labels are made in the laboratory and carried to the
patient's side, many
opportunities for human error exist.
When phlebotomists rely on manual methods to identify
their patients, errors
can occur at two critical steps in the process: in the
identification of the
patient, and in the labeling of the specimen. The patient
might be sleepy or
disoriented from medication and unable to verify his or
her name, or the
wristband might be blurry, difficult to read in low
light, or even missing.
A label with the name of another patient could be put by
mistake on the
specimen tube.
The trend in positive patient identification is toward
mobile computing and
barcoding, in phlebotomy as well as pharmacy,
transfusion, and other
services. Today, a caregiver can walk into a patient's
room, scan his or her
own barcoded ID badge as well as the patient's barcoded
wristband, read the
orders for that draw from a handheld data terminal, draw
the specimen, print
a detailed label at the bedside, then later upload the
draw information into
the lab information system.
Link:
http://www.bridgemedical.com/media_cov_9_02_2.shtml
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CAUSE FOR CONCERN
******************************************************
NCQA: QUALITY OF CARE BETTER, CONCERNS REMAIN
The National Committee for Quality Assurance 's State of
Health Care Quality
report found that despite continued clinical quality
improvements, more than
6,000 deaths and 22 million sick days could be avoided
annually if "best
practice" care found at the nation's top
organizations were adopted
universally.
Link:
http://www.ahqa.org/pub/connections/162_696_2585.cfm - ncqa
SURVEY RELEASED ON MEDICAL ERRORS
Most physicians believe that reducing medical errors
should be a national
priority, but are much less likely than the public to
believe quality of
care is a problem, according to a new survey. The study,
published in the
Archives of Internal Medicine, found that 67.6% of people
surveyed in
households believed quality of care is a significant
problem while just
29.1% of Colorado physicians and 34.9% of physicians
nationwide agreed.
Link: http://www.archinternmed.com/
CALIFORNIA REGULATORS FAULT HOSPITAL FOR HEPARIN-RELATED
PATIENT DEATH
THE PRESS-ENTERPRISE 12/03/2002
State regulators found a compounding string of problems
at Riverside County
Regional Medical Center leading up to the accidental drug
overdose that
contributed to a patient's death in June. A state
investigation found the
hospital relied on murky guidelines governing the use of
the anti-clotting
drug Heparin, failed to make those guidelines readily
available to nurses
and failed to supervise the work of pharmacists who might
have caught the
error.
The investigation was triggered by the death of Jeffery
Owens, a 40-year-old
Moreno Valley man who bled to death after receiving 100
times more Heparin
than he was supposed to get. Owens, a stabbing victim,
arrived at the
hospital bleeding from his chest wounds, and his blood
pressure continued to
fall. Dr. David Bolivar, a surgical resident, decided to
use Owens' blood
for transfusion later during surgery. The nurse asked
Bolivar how much
Heparin to use in the blood collection device to prevent
clotting until
surgery.
According to the coroner's report, Bolivar was unable to tell her
the correct dose. The nurse asked a blood bank worker and
a hospital
pharmacist for guidance, but neither could provide an
answer.
The nurse told the coroner's investigator she couldn't
find the correct dose
in a procedures manual, and that instructions to the
collection device were
on the floor, soaked in blood and unreadable. The nurse
said she thought she
was giving Owens 1,000 units of Heparin. Instead, she
administered five
ampules, each containing 20,000 units, the coroner's
report stated.
In the wake of Owens' death, the hospital has eliminated
the use of Heparin
with transfusion systems that use the patient's own
blood. Physician must
provide written orders specifying how much anti-coagulant
to use if it is
needed. Emergency department nurses will review
auto-transfusion procedures
and all other low-volume, high-risk procedures at least
every six months,
according to the state's report. The hospital also has placed care
guidelines at nursing stations, along with laminated
reference cards for all
low-volume, high-risk procedures.
CHECKING UP ON MEDICAL MISTAKES
Washington Post Thursday, December 12, 2002; Page A06
About 7% of physicians and 10% of the general public say
that someone in
their family has died as the result of preventable errors
in their medical
care, according to a new survey. A higher fraction of
each group -- 12% of
doctors and 17% of the public -- reported that they or a
relative had
suffered a medical error serious enough to cause them to
lose time from
school or work.
In all, 35% of physicians and 42% of the public said they
had experienced a
medical error themselves, or had one affect a family
member. Eighteen
percent of physicians and 24% of the public said the
errors had serious
consequences.
The study, published in the New England Journal of
Medicine, is the first
effort to quantify the public's experience with medical
mistakes as well as
its opinions about how to prevent them. It was conducted
by researchers at
the Harvard School of Public Health and the Henry J.
Kaiser Family
Foundation.
Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A4
3084-2002Dec11¬Found=true
NO END TO ERRORS
excerpts from washingtonpost.com, Tuesday, December 3,
2002; Page HE01
The Washington Post featured a December article asserting
that much lip
service has been paid to reducing medical error but
little has been done to
deliver on the national goals set forth by the Institutes
of Medicine in
November 1999.
The Post reported "...experts contend, it's doubtful
that patients checking
into most of America's 5,200 hospitals today are any less
likely to be
killed or injured than they were on November 29, 1999,
when the report was
issued. With the conspicuous exception of the Department
of Veterans Affairs
(VA) medical system, whose hospitals have embraced the
ethic and many of the
methods that have made aviation and other industries
safer, most hospitals
have taken few new steps to protect patients from
errors."
The article examined five areas: medication errors, wrong
site surgery,
hospital acquired infections, fatigue & Supervision
and the nursing shortage
to see what's happened in the three years since the IOM
issued its report.
Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/
******************************************************
GRANTS & FUNDING
******************************************************
IT PROJECTS FUNDED UNDER $3M AHRQ GRANTS
October 18,
2002
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality released
more than $3 million
in grants as part of its ongoing Primary Care
Practice-Based Research
Networks project. "Many" of the grants will go
to information technology
development projects, with disease management and disease
surveillance
projects also winning awards, AHRQ announced.
Among the winners for IT projects, Baylor College of
Medicine, Cincinnati
Children's Hospital and the American Academy of
Pediatrics won grants. AHRQ
estimates that a total of $6 million will be dispersed
across the project's
three-year span.
Link: http://www.ahcpr.gov/fund/grantix.htm
$1.5 MILLION GRANT GOES TO VALLEY HOSPITAL EFFORT TO
REDUCE ERRORS
The Record, Bergen County, NJ, Friday, November 1, 2002
Outgoing Rep. Marge S. Roukema secured $1.5 million in
funding for her
hometown hospital, The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, in
November when
President Bush signed a national defense appropriations
bill. Hidden within
the spending measure's fine print was funding for a
demonstration project at
Valley about reducing medical errors through the use of
supermarket-style
barcodes and hand-held computers. The money is included
in funds for "Army
Advanced Medical Development."
The funding enables the pilot project to expand from a
few medical-surgical
units at Valley to the entire hospital, "allowing
all of the hospital's
patients and staff to benefit from these new
technologies," Roukema said in
a press release.
Link: http://www.bergen.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?id=5498423
RWJF PROGRAM TO FUND HEALTH CARE IT RESEARCH
IHealthBeat, November 19, 2002
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced that it
would provide $7.25
million in funding to evaluate health care information
technology
applications through its Health e-Technologies
Initiative. Two separate
categories of grants will provide up to $100,000 for
research projects
lasting six months to one year or as much as $600,000 for
projects lasting
up to three years.
Projects focused on evaluating, comparing or improving
health care IT
applications with regard to changed health behavior or
chronic disease
management will be eligible for funding. Projects
measuring outcomes,
including changes in patient/physician behavior, health
status changes and
impact on costs, also will be eligible for funding.
HHS AWARDS $5.9 MILLION CONTRACT TO IMPROVE PATIENT
SAFETY DATA COLLECTION
HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced a two-year, $5.9
million contract to
improve the department's collection and reporting of
patient safety data.
HHS said the contract would lead to the development of a
new Web-based
system that will integrate existing systems operated by
several agencies to
improve reporting and make the systems easier for
frontline care providers
to use. The contract was awarded through the Agency for
Healthcare Research
and Quality. It will lead to the development of a system
that will link
reports and integrate data from the National Healthcare
Safety Network with
the adverse events reporting systems for drugs,
biologics, vaccines and
devices.
******************************************************
EVENTS
******************************************************
HEALTH CARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 2003
January 14-15, 2003, Los Angeles, CA
This year's conference "Enhancing California Health
Care Through Technology"
features case studies that highlight the experiences of a
diverse group of
California health care organizations, from mid-sized
physician groups and
community clinics to commercial health plans and the
Veterans
Administration.
Link: http://www.cahealthit.com/overview.html
CREATING SAFER HEALTH CARE IN CHICAGO
Friday, February 7, 2003; University of Chicago
This conference is put on by the Chicago Patient Safety
Forum, a
community-based network whose purpose is to facilitate
innovative system
approaches to understanding and improving patient safety
in the Chicago
metropolitan area.
Link: http://www.chicagopatientsafety.org/
WESTPACK SHOW
February 19-21, 2003, Anaheim Convention Center
Since the FDA has postponed its barcode regulation
decision until the end of
the year, the first major discussion of its
implementation and impact will
likely occur at February's WestPack trade event. The
show's technical
conference will feature three major sessions addressing
barcode
technologies, including:
+ Bar Coding Unit Doses and Patient Strategy
+ Unit Dose Bar Coding: Bar Coding and HUD/OTC In-Line
Printing
+ Unit Dose Bar Coding: Coding Standards, Symbologies,
Printing Processes,
and Data Capture Technologies
Other sessions will review bar code printing options and
various data
capture technologies and detail the process for in-line
printing of bar
codes used in health care.
Link: http://www.westpackshow.com/
5TH ANNUAL NPSF PATIENT SAFETY CONGRESS
March 12-15, 2003, Renaissance Washington DC Hotel
Bridge Medical is one of several convenors of this year's
conference, which
is entitled, "Let's Get Results: Improving the
Safety of Patients"
Link:
http://www.bridgemedical.com/events_2003_mar12.shtml
NATIONAL PATIENT SAFETY AWARENESS WEEK -
March 9 -15, 2003
Initially launched in March 2002 by PULSE of New York
President Ilene Corina
(and co-chair of the National Patient Safety Foundation's
Patient and Family
Advisory Council), Patient Safety Awareness Week (PSAW)
is a national
education and awareness-building campaign for improving
patient safety at
the local level. Hospitals and healthcare organizations
across the country
are encouraged to plan events to promote patient safety
within their own
organizations. Educational activities are centered on
educating patients on
how to become involved in their own health care, as well
as working with
hospitals to build partnerships with their patient
community.
For further information regarding what you can do for Patient
Safety
Awareness Week go to:
http://www.bridgemedical.com/events_2003_mar9.shtml
THE 2003 MICHIGAN HEALTH & SAFETY COALITION PATIENT
SAFETY CONFERENCE
April 30-May 1, 2003 - Dearborn, MI
The conference is designed for the highest levels of
health care leadership,
including chief executive, medical, nursing and financial
officers and
governing board members. Concurrent sessions showcasing
comparative
practices from across the state will demonstrate
practical techniques you
can use for improving quality and safety.
Faculty include:
+ Lucian Leape, MD, Harvard School of Public Health,
Boston
+ Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, The Johns Hopkins Hospital,
Baltimore
+ Gerald Hickson, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical
Center, Nashville
+ Judith Pelham, President and CEO, Trinity Health, Novi
Link: http://www.mihealthandsafety.org/patientsafety.html
AMERICAN HEALTHCARE'S FOUNDING FATHER
April 28, 2003, San Francisco, CA
Did you know that Benjamin Franklin was co-founder of the
first organized
hospital in the United States? In honor of his contribution, The American
Case Management Association (ACMA) and the Joint
Commission on Accreditation
of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) announced The
Franklin Award of
Distinction as the first award designed to recognize
hospitals that can best
validate its application of collaborative professional
practice, effective
service and achieved outcomes which positively affect
patient care.
The inaugural winner will be announced at the joint
meeting of the 10th
Annual National Institute for Case Management (NICM)
Clinical Case
Management Conference and the 4th Annual ACMA Meeting.
Link: http://www.acmaweb.org/franklinaward3.html
JAMIA PATIENT SAFETY SUPPLEMENT NOW AVAILABLE
AHRQ sponsored a Patient Safety Track at last year's
annual conference of
the American Medical Informatics Association, and
selected articles and
presentations from the track are now available as part of
a new patient
safety supplement to the November/December issue of the
Journal of the
American Medical Informatics Association. The supplement
includes a review
article that discusses AHRQ's patient safety initiatives
in 2001 as well as
an article on federal government initiatives in patient
safety.
To request a copy of the supplement, please send an
e-mail to
ahrqpubs@ahrq.gov.
******************************************************
BRIDGE NEWS
******************************************************
AMERISOURCEBERGEN FINALIZES PURCHASE OF BRIDGE MEDICAL,
INC
Business Wire, Jan 6, 2003
AmerisourceBergen Corporation, the largest pharmaceutical
services company
in the U.S. dedicated solely to the pharmaceutical supply
chain, announced
the completion of its purchase of Bridge Medical, Inc.,
the leading provider
of barcode-enabled point-of-care software designed to
reduce medication
errors and decrease costs in healthcare facilities.
"We are extremely excited about Bridge's
market-leading, proven patient
safety technology," said R. David Yost,
AmerisourceBergen's Chief Executive
Officer. "Hospitals and other medical facilities are
already using this
technology to increase medication accuracy and improve
operating efficiency.
Our customers and suppliers need unique, tailored
solutions for delivering
pharmaceuticals, and this acquisition is one more example
of our commitment
to enhance our offerings in the pharmaceutical supply
channel."
"Combining Bridge's patient safety technology with
AmerisourceBergen's high
service distribution capability, the in-pharmacy barcode
application
capability of our recently acquired AutoMed operation,
and the packaging
options of our American Health Packaging unit provides
the kind of
pharmaceutical management solutions our customers are
seeking," said Kurt J.
Hilzinger, AmerisourceBergen's President and Chief
Operating Officer. "We
now have the most comprehensive service offering in the
industry with which
to address the challenges of staffing shortages,
medication errors and
rising costs in today's healthcare environment."
Link: http://www.bridgemedical.com/news.shtml
VHA TO MEASURE IMPACT OF BRIDGE BARCODE PATIENT SAFETY
SYSTEM
Business Wire, Oct. 22, 2002
VHA Inc., a cooperative of 2,200 health care
organizations, has signed an
agreement with Bridge Medical to conduct a research study
on Bridge's
barcode-enabled MedPoint software system.
"Under terms of the agreement, VHA will measure the
extent of MedPoint's
impact on medication-error reduction," explained Don
McCall, a group senior
vice president at VHA. "To facilitate participation,
incentives will be
offered to a limited number of VHA members that purchase
MedPoint software
in time to participate in the study."
"One of VHA's primary missions is helping members
improve the quality of
care by increasing access to innovative
technologies," noted McCall. "This
agreement enables VHA to evaluate MedPoint and better
define its impact on
medication-error reduction. We also want to better
understand MedPoint's
compatibility with other IT systems already in use at
many hospitals.
Knowledge gained from this effort will help VHA members,
and ultimately the
entire industry, make intelligent, effective choices when
selecting and
deploying patient safety systems."
The study will begin immediately with completion expected
in 2003.
Link:
http://www.bridgemedical.com/news_2002_33.shtml
SSM HEALTH CARE FIRST TO WIN THE MALCOLM BALDRIDGE
QUALITY AWARD
SSM Health Care is the first health care system in the
nation to receive the
Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. One SSM hospital, St. Marys
Hospital Medical Center (Madison, WI), a Bridge MedPoint
customer, played an
important and laborious role in earning this award by
hosting Baldridge
reviewers. St. Mary's referenced their implementation of
the MedPoint BPOC
system in the Baldridge application and provided the
reviewers with a live
demonstration of the system.
"This organization has demonstrated the ability to
meet market challenges
while improving the quality of compassionate health
care," said President
Bush. HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson cited SSM's work with
patient feedback
and physician communications as "an outstanding
example of what can be done
when fresh thinking and modern science are brought to the
delivery of health
care in America."
Link: http://www.bridgemedical.com/st_marys.shtml
VENTURE COMPANY OF THE YEAR?
San Diego Venture Group has selected Bridge Medical as
one of three
finalists for its Venture Capital Success Story of 2002
program.
Link: http://www.bridgemedical.com/awards.shtml
"THE IMPACT OF IT ON PATIENT SAFETY" NAMED
HIMSS BOOK OF THE YEAR!
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
(HIMSS) has named
"The Impact of Information Technology on Patient
Safety" HIMSS Book of the
Year. Bridge
Medical COO and VP of Operations, Rusty Lewis served as editor
for the publication. With chapters authored by a veritable 'who's who' of
patient safety experts, the book is designed to keep
healthcare information
technology professionals abreast of important patient
safety issues.
The Impact of Information Technology on Patient Safety is
available for $50
for HIMSS members ($60 regular price). To purchase a
copy, call 312/664-4467
or log on to www.himss.org