Search Results for:

Showing 41 - 50 of 499 results

No Room for Error: Why Time Outs Matter Beyond the OR

Think your procedure is safe just because it happens all the time? Think again. Across the country, routine procedures—line insertions, bedside scopes, injections, and more—are being done in hallways, exam rooms, and imaging suites with alarming informality. There’s often no standardized Time Out, checklist adherence varies, and there may be no hard stop before invasive actions are taken. Why? Because power dynamics, culture, and habit have quietly taught staff that these “everyday” procedures don’t warrant the same rigor as surgery. But when a patient stops breathing due to an undisclosed allergy or suffers a retained object injury, the consequences are just as real—only now, you’re outside the safety net of the OR.

Improving Safety in NG Tube Placement: Strategies to Reduce Complications

Join us for a dynamic 60-minute virtual presentation focused on safe practices for nasogastric (NG) tube insertion and placement verification. This session will provide essential guidance on evidence-based techniques to ensure accurate NG tube placement while minimizing the risk of complications. Designed for nurses and frontline healthcare professionals, the presentation will highlight practical tips, common pitfalls, and current best practices to promote patient safety and improve clinical outcomes. Whether you’re a seasoned clinician or new to NG tube management, this concise and informative session will enhance your confidence and clinical competence.

Eliminating Hospital Workplace Violence Resources

Workplace violence — a growing problem in California hospitals — jeopardizes both workforce wellness and the quality of care. HQI is committed to helping hospitals protect their employees and ensure a safe environment for all.  HQI’s white paper: Workplace Violence in Hospitals: Issues, Trends, Prevention, and Response On-Demand Recordings and Slide Decks ONLINE RESOURCES FOR […]

Uncovering the True Impact of ‘No Harm’ in Patient Safety Events

This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

Key Points: 

  • The Collaborative Healthcare Patient Safety Organization (CHPSO) has seen dramatic improvement in reducing unclassified events on its platform, dropping from 16.8% in 2022 to just 6.9% in 2024. 
  • Even when patients experience additional suffering, extended recovery, or psychological trauma, these impacts are frequently mislabeled as “no harm” if they do not result in catastrophic outcomes. 
  • Harm misclassification skews safety data and masks the true burden of harm.  

    • CMS Patient Safety Structural Measure Reporting Begins This Year — HQI Can Help

    This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

    Key Points:  

  • The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) new Patient Safety Structural Measure is intended to improve hospital safety by focusing on structural elements that support a culture of safety. 
  • PSSM reporting begins in calendar year (CY) 2025. 
  • The Hospital Quality Institute’s (HQI’s) program HQI Cares: Implementing BETA HEART® helps hospitals meet this new requirement.  

    • Analysis Paper: How Methodological Choices Affect California’s 30-Day Hospital Readmission Rates

    This post has been archived and contains information that may be out of date.

    Key Points: 

  • The calculation of 30-day hospital-wide all-cause readmission rates varies significantly across organizations due to differences in inclusion/exclusion criteria, data sources, and operational definitions. For example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) uses both encounter and claims data, while the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI) and the Hospital Quality Institute (HQI) rely on patient-level encounter data only.  
  • HQI’s adherence to CMS methodologies results in higher alignment with national benchmarks, whereas HCAI’s broader criteria — such as counting all readmissions within 30 days and crediting readmitting facilities — lead to inflated statewide rates and potential inconsistencies for benchmarking.  
  • HQI’s methodology, closely mirroring CMS standards, supports standardized benchmarking and state-level policy decisions, whereas HCAI’s approach, while operationally useful, lacks consistency for broader comparative analyses.