PA Governor Knows Nurses are Key to Patient Safety

This week, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed a bill into law to ensure patient safety in the OR. Rep. Mauree Gingrich, R-Lebanon, sponsored the bill which makes it mandatory for hospitals to have a circulating nurse present in surgeries requiring deep sedation or general anesthesia. Circulating nurses ensure that all OR equipment is available, clean and working properly. In addition, they are trained to look for signs of distress in sedated patients.

Click here to read the story on the ABC-27 website.

Thank you to the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation

Thank you to Horst and Luisa Ferrero for sharing the story of their beloved son, Sebastian, during yesterday's webinar, "A Vision for Transformative Change." This presentation focused on the preventable medical errors that led to three year old Sebastian's death and his parents' commitment to bringing a state of the art children's hospital to Gainesville, Florida in the hopes that this tragedy will not be repeated in their community.

If you missed yesterday's webinar, you can still access the materials online:

PowerPoint Presentation
Audio Recording
The Sebastian Ferrero Foundation's Vision Video

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This webinar concludes our spring series. Keep an eye on the INQRI website for information about the fall series. Special thanks to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation who co-sponsored the medication management webinar series and to SRA, International for all their assistance.

INQRI Grantee in the Inaugural Class of HPNA Research Scholars

Congratulations to INQRI grantee Gail Towsley, PhD, NHA, who was one of five scholars recently selected by the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association as the inaugural class of HPNA Research Scholars.

The HPNA Research Scholars Program supports funding to participate in the 4th Annual Kathleen Foley Palliative Care Retreat and Research Symposium of the National Palliative Care Research Center, co-sponsored by AAHPM, American Cancer Society, and HPNA. The Retreat will be held October 12-14, 2010 in Sundance, Utah. The goal of the Retreat is to advance the scientific endeavors of those who are or will become independent investigators actively involved in palliative care research through development of attendees' individual works in progress and improvement of specific competencies and core methodologies essential to conducting palliative care research.

Dr. Towsley was a member of the INQRI team at the University of Utah whose project was entitled, "Measuring Nursing Care Quality Related to Pain Management."  Led by principal investigator Susan Beck, the team developed and tested a questionnaire that can be used to measure opinions of patients about how their nurses manage their pain. The information from this project will provide researchers with an understanding of how patients with pain understand and interpret questions related to the quality of their nursing care. This measure is likely to prove salient to consumers interested in selecting hospitals that can best address their care needs, as well as to hospital administrators and policy makers interested in improving the quality of nursing-related care.


Click here to learn more about the HPNA.

Still Time to Register for Tomorrow's Webinar

There is still time to register for tomorrow's webinar, "A Vision for Transformative Change." This webinar will be our last until the fall and will conclude our medication management series, co-sponsored by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

June 16, 2010 - 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET

Three year old Sebastian Ferrero died in October, 2007 due to a series of preventable medical errors including a medication overdose. Please join us as we welcome his parents, Horst and Luisa Ferrero, who will share their son's story and the efforts they have taken in his memory.

Click here to register.

Click here to learn more about the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation.

Contact Heather Kelley with any questions.
Visit the INQRI website to view previous presentations.

More News about Reducing Blood Stream Infections

As readers of this blog know, INQRI researchers at Johns Hopkins University have conducted the first randomized-control trial to reduce central line associated blood stream infections (CLABSIs) among ICU patients. This study, conducted in ICUs in 12 states, has shown in preliminary analysis that substantial reductions in infections can be widely achieved and this project did so with nurses leading the infection control efforts.

With a growing cultural emphasis on patient safety and increased quality, this work comes at a very important time. However, although the goal of reducing infections is widely held, it is not always easily accomplished. In Delaware, Wilmington Hospital has (for a year) had the highest rate of mostly preventable infections, with a rate among the highest in the nation. Click here to read about this hospital's struggle to reduce infections.

Around the Blogosphere...

Take a look at some of the things we're reading this week...

• Check out this week's "killer edition" of the Health Wonk Review, hosted by Tinker Ready at Boston Health News.

• Over at the John A. Hartford Foundation blog, Health AGEnda, Chris Langston discusses patient engagement in health care and a team-based approach to care management in his post "Sailing the Ship of Health Care."

• The Health Care for All blog provides the latest action on a series of patient safety bills being considered by the Massachusetts legislature in the post, "Patient Safety Bill Moving." 

Reminder - Webinar Next Week

Don't forget to register for INQRI's last webinar until fall: "A Vision for Transformative Change."

June 16, 2010 - 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET

Three year old Sebastian Ferrero died in October, 2007 due to a series of preventable medical errors including a medication overdose. Please join us as we welcome his parents, Horst and Luisa Ferrero, who will share their son's story and the efforts they have taken in his memory.

This webinar will serve as a poignant conclusion to our medication management series, co-sponsored by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Click here to register.

Click here to learn more about the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation.

Contact Heather Kelley with any questions.

Visit the INQRI website to view previous presentations.