June 2010
Safety Initiatives Patient safety remains one of the
most critical healthcare challenges in the nation, and we at Mason General Hospital continually seek new ways to provide the safest systems for our patients and their families. Proper patient identification is a key component of patient safety.
What to Expect During Your Hospital Care • Every patient receives a wristband while at the hospital, to ensure their proper identification during their care. Continued on page 3…
Where caring counts. Feel the difference.
TM
Vol. 26 No. 3
Standing by Standard Mammo Guidelines At his desk in front of digital mammography images is Kevin Roscoe, M.D., a board-certified radiologist at MGH.
D
etecting breast cancer in time is personal for Dr. Kevin Roscoe, M.D. Just last year, the MGH radiologist lost his 89-year-old grandmother to breast cancer. “Her doctor had stopped recommending screening mammograms for her for some time. By the time she found it, the disease was widespread. She was vibrant, and healthy otherwise,” Dr. Roscoe, MGH’s chief-of-staff for radiology, recalled. He has been the director of medical imaging at Mason General Hospital since August of 2008. Since 1989, his profession has seen breast cancer mortality decrease by 29 percent. “This mortality drop is largely due to the widespread mammogram screening programs we have had,” Dr. Roscoe said. He is, however, alarmed by a recent recommendation by the U.S. Continued on page 6…
New Technology Enhances Efficiency
A new Bedside Mediation Verification system (BMV) offers patients at Mason General Hospital
Kristi Armstrong, RN, an ICU nurse at MGH, scans the bar code on a patient’s ID bracelet. This state-of-the-art feature allows nurses to verify medications before they administer them, as well as access a patient’s current medical information and confirm patient identity.
more peace of mind. In January, Mason General implemented this technology, which involves scanning a bar code on each patient’s wristband. It allows nurses to verify medications before they administer them, as well as access a patient’s current medical information and confirm patient identity. “While errors can occur at any point in the medication process, the last chance to catch the error before it reaches the patient is at the time of administration. BMV systems allow life-saving innovation at this critical last step. During the medication administration process, nurses scan bar codes on patient wristbands and medications to correctly identify the patient and the appropriate medication,” explained Kelly Nettle, RN and director of clinical informatics and the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU)/Outpatient Surgery (OPS)/Ambulatory Care Center (ACC). Bar code scanning is now in MGH’s Medical/Surgical/Pediatrics department, Intensive Care Unit, PACU, OPS, ACC, Wound Care Services, and Birth Center. This new system helps ensure that the right patients receive the exact dosage of the proper medication, via the appropriate route, at the correct time. The latest test results, medication orders, and allergy information immediately appear on patients’ records to alert against any potential problems, ahead of time. This makes nurses more efficient and gives physicians faster and easier access to critical information. “As a result, medication errors have the potential to decrease by almost 86 percent,” Ms. Nettle said. Nettle added only about 18 percent of hospitals currently use bar coding systems, but she expects to see more implement it. “We believe in quality healthcare and realized this solution would assist our nurses to better protect patients and improve patient safety and care.” By Rebecca Carpenter, McCarty & Associates, Inc.