Newsletter
Patient Safety Alert Guidance to Reduce the Risk of Retained Surgical Items
Oct 05, 2023
Patient Safety Alert 33: Patient Safety Alert Guidance to Reduce the Risk of Retained Surgical Items
Retained Surgical Items (RSI) are one of the most frequent sentinel events that were reported by The Joint Commission and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health for 2021-2022. In 2023, the AMC PSO gathered a Task Force to discuss the barriers to, and facilitators for, implementing best practices to reduce retained surgical items (RSI) by reviewing the AORN and AST guidelines through a series of convenings. This document reflects summarized identification of risks and mitigation strategies by the Task Force to reduce RSI’s, including guidance for the implementation of these practices to reduce the incidence of these sentinel events.
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No Surgical Items Left Behind
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While the occurrence is rare, Massachusetts reported rising rates of retained surgical items over the past several years.
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Patient Safety Alert Issue 25: The AMC PSO convened a panel of safety leaders to review recent trends and discuss novel interventions to mitigate the risk for hospital workplace violence, especially from patients and visitors.
Electronic Health Record Risks in the Emergency Department
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Patient Safety Alert Issue 27: The AMC PSO convened a panel of Emergency Medicine thought leaders to identify significant areas of concern and to explore potential mitigation strategies for use of electronic health record risks in the Emergency Department
Sponsor of the Newly Published SafeCare Study Shares Key Findings and Recommendations
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Results clearly demonstrate a need for better tools, increased measurement of patient harm, and better implementation systems.
