Healthcare Quality Week, sponsored by the National Association for Healthcare Quality, starts October 17th. HQW recognizes the contributions professionals have made to improve quality of care and raise awareness of quality issues.
The focus on healthcare quality and patient safety improvement was spurred by the 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report entitled To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System. The report stated that preventable medical errors cause between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths every year in American hospitals, and over one million injuries. The IOM’s follow-up to its1999 report, To Err is Human, was the 2001 Crossing the Quality Chasm – a call for all stakeholders to improve the quality of the American healthcare system. It laid out six areas requiring fundamental change: patient safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency and equity.
Since 2001, significant strides have been made on the quality and the patient safety fronts but much work is still needed. Today, patient safety issues identified by the IOM, such as wrong site surgery, still continue. Yes, patient safety and healthcare quality improvement is a marathon and not a sprint!
This Weekend Reading series begins with News Break with articles on current healthcare news. Next check out It’s a Marathon, with a articles on patient safety and healthcare quality. In Heavy Metal explore articles on lead poisoning and its fascinating history. Last but not least, do not miss Ever wonder? and my personal favorite, The Surprisingly Complicated History of the Frisbee!
I hope you enjoy the following:
1. News Break
- Associated Press: FDA panel endorses booster shot for J&J COVID-19 vaccine
- Axios: Doctors’ challenge with aspirin guidance: It’s hard to know who’s taking it
- KHN: The Public Backs Medicare Rx Price Negotiation Even After Hearing Both Sides’ Views
- WebMD: Half of COVID Survivors Have Symptoms Beyond 6 Months
2. It’s a Marathon
- WebMD: Doctors Doing Wrong-Site Surgery: Why Is It Still Happening?
- Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) – Univ. of Minnesota: Healthcare-associated infections rose in 2020, CDC says
- Becker’s Hospital Review: The less-discussed consequence of healthcare’s labor shortage
- STAT: Older Americans bore the brunt of antibiotic-resistant infections, study finds
- Leapfrog’s Hospital and Surgery Center Ratings
3. Heavy Metal
- Axios: More than half of U.S. children had detectable lead in blood
- US News: Growing Up in Lead-Contaminated Area Might Alter Personality: Study
- PBS Frontline: Public Health Officials Urge Lower Lead Limits
- WIRED: At the Door of the Loony Gas Building
- MILive: Michigan aims to replace all Benton Harbor lead pipes in 18 months
4. Ever Wonder?
- JSTOR Daily: The Bitter Truth About Bitters
- The Saturday Evening Post: The Surprisingly Complicated History of the Frisbee
- JSTOR Daily: How Show Business Went Union – Since the nineteenth century, the IATSE union has organized behind-the-scenes workers, first in theater, then in the movies.
- Ars Technica: Did lead poisoning cause downfall of Roman Empire? The jury is still out A new video from the American Chemical Society revisits longstanding academic debate
Best,
Suzanne
Suzanne Daniels, Ph.D.
AEPC President
P.O. Box 1416
Birmingham, MI 48012
Office: (248) 792-2187
Email: [email protected]
