Committee Updates
Quality Safety and Care Improvement
The Quality Safety and Care Improvement Committee (QSCI) has reviewed data on patient falls, provided feedback regarding factors that may contribute to falls and provided insight into how the Morse fall scale is being used in relation to planning patient care.
In addition the QSCI is developing recommendations for the following topics:
Where and how to store hemoccult solutions on the clinical units to reduce potential confusion with eye drops;
The proper disposal of IV bags that have patient information printed on the labels so as to maintain patient confidentiality. This affects many issues throughout the hospital as IV bags are not to be placed in the regular trash or in the red biohazard bags.
Review of the “never event” list that includes those conditions that should “never” occur in a hospital. As of Oct. 1, Medicare will no longer pay for costs that are associated with falls with injury, catheter associated UTIs, central line infections, hospital acquired pressure ulcers, wrong site surgery or foreign body retained.
Please share any ideas with co-chairs Stephanie Capello, RN, and Mary Antonelli, RN.
Nursing Informatics and Clinical Innovations
The Nursing Informatics and Clinical Innovations Committee (NICIC) is focusing on:
Providing information and feedback to the BWH Clinical Systems Advisory and Steering Committees.
Collaborating with IS resulting in a new solution for the eMAR laptop “screen freeze” problem that went live in May. The rollout of new laptops continues.
Evaluating the new look of the lab order screen. The Laboratory Order Communication project (Phase 1) is planned to go live this fall.
Reviewing the clinical system downtimes guidelines and making recommendations made as to the best time for downtimes in order to minimize interruptions in patient care.
Providing feedback and input into the design of a new Center for Nursing Excellence (CNE) Web site. Please contact Carol Luppi or Gary Zina with ideas for the Web site.
Conducting documentation workflow analysis to prepare for Acute Care Documentation (ACD) project.
Committee members are encouraged to elicit information and feedback from staff in their areas and to bring back to meetings for further discussion and analysis.
Please share any ideas with co-chairs Carol Booth, RN, and Heidi Smith, RN.
Patient and Family Education
In a follow-up to last month’s topics, the Patient and Family Education Committee conducted a small survey of almost 50 inpatient nurses from throughout the Brigham to see what form of communication best meets their needs regarding committee information.
Most respondents, 56 percent, preferred e-mail. Next, 33 percent preferred face-to-face communication, while there was a three-way tie for posters, flyers and unit-based newsletters with 4 percent each.
Based on this feedback, the committee is formulating an e-mail message to all staff about the patient education online database called CareNotes. This is the easiest and most efficient way to obtain the widest range of accurate patient education materials at this time.
Please share any ideas with co-chairs Cindy Loring, RN, and Deb Moody, RN.
Standards Policies and Procedures
The Standards, Policies and Procedures Committee continues to review, revise and develop policies, procedures and standards across all specialty areas. Recent changes include the updating and revision of the EMAR policies and procedures (EMAR-00-EMAR12), revision of the policies and procedures for Administration of Medication and Parenteral Therapy in the Center for Labor and Birth (CLB M.3 ), and revision of ONC-00, Reinfusion of Hematopoetic Progenitor Products (HCP) (Bone Marrow, Peripheral Stem Cells and Cord Blood).
Other policy revisions involve the disinfection of all needle less caps (claves) meant to help reduce catheter associated blood stream infections. All IV policies that reference needle less devices will now include a statement that serves as a reminder to disinfect the cap/hub for at least 10 seconds. Also, comment codes will no longer be required for out of range values on glucometers as long as the nurse documents the action taken for glucose results < 50 and >400 elsewhere in the medical record (flow sheet, the MAR for those on paper system or progress note).
Please continue to utilize the search function for the Clinical Practice Manual online as the committee continues to work toward making these tools as user friendly as possible. Also, the committee continues to strengthen cross-unit and cross-division collaboration as we discuss the care of patients in many different settings. We welcome your questions and feedback about the work of this committee.
Please share any ideas with co-chairs Cindy Jodoin, RN, and Sharon Swan, RN.