A California hospital has reinstated its masking policy after more than a dozen staffers as well as some patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, according to a statement from the hospital’s parent company, Kaiser Permanente.

The main provision of the bill would require the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue a standard requiring healthcare and social service employers to write and implement a workplace violence prevention plan to prevent and protect employees from violent incidents.

Gun violence in the United States was responsible for nearly 49,000 deaths in 2021, about 30,000 inpatient hospital stays, and 50,000 emergency department visits, generating more than $1 billion in medical costs, according to a new report from the Urban Institute.

“The statistics do little to help us improve patient safety,” Truax said. “Rather, we must look at the real opportunities to improve patient safety."

We can finally close the book, so to speak, on survey year 2022 and, in so doing, ponder the forces that come into play to increase the degree(s) of difficulty when it comes to compliance. And, in case you hadn’t guessed, the forces that come into play in the (drum roll) physical environment.

ECRI’s annual report on the top patient safety concerns facing the healthcare industry—and what to do about them—are free online. The 2023 list contains several new issues, including pediatric mental health and uncertainty in maternal-fetal care. And it has several familiar concerns, including sepsis and medication errors.

Here's a quick rundown of each topic, along with the resources and advice on how to tackle each one.

When accreditation organization (AO) surveyors show up for survey, people automatically become nervous. The reaction is natural. Yes, the surveyors are there to find issues where you do not comply with the standards, but isn’t that a good thing?

Sharps safety is a perennial problem in the laboratory environment, and staff can become inured to the dangers that needles, syringes, and other sharps pose after dealing with them day in and day out.

Be sure you understand the requirements of your state or local fire authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) when evaluating the annual testing of your hospital’s medical gas program.