LEAPFROG SAFETY STANDARDS STILL A STRETCH FOR HOSPITALS

The leapfrog group’s campaign to improve pa-tient safety has raised awareness, but few hospitals are meeting the program’s standards, says a report from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).

The Leapfrog Group, a coalition of large employers and public agencies, created standards that call on hospitals to computerize doctors’ orders, staff intensive care units with specially trained physicians and require evidence-based referrals. The study found those standards have had limited impact on hospitals. Some hospitals have developed action plans and made a commitment to implement the practice in the next few years, but most still have a long way to go to meet the standards.

The study says that patient safety efforts are likely to be more successful if there are strong incentives—particularly financial incentives—for hospitals to improve safety. While many hospitals have not fully implemented the Leapfrog standards, many are implementing less-costly alternatives or testing computerized systems on a smaller scale. The public sector also could complement Leapfrog efforts by collaborating with hospitals on research, information technology, reporting and purchasing.

“Leapfrog has clearly helped put patient safety on hospital radar screens, and many hospitals are trying to meet the spirit if not the letter of the Leapfrog standards by substituting less expensive alternatives,” says Paul B. Ginsburg, president of HSC. For more information, visit www.hschange.com.

CONSUMER GROUP SEEKS STORIES ON IMPACT OF NURSE SHORTAGE

In support of the afl-cio nurse coalition’s national campaign to establish safe staffing standards in hospitals, the National Consumers League (NCL) is calling on people to share their experiences involving nurse staffing in hospitals (positive or negative) in the past five years.

If you know of any patients or families who would be willing to share their experiences, please direct them to the NCL Web site, www.nclnet.org/nurseshortage.htm.

BAR CODES EXPECTED TO REDUCE ERRORS

Bar codes on most prescription drugs and on certain over-the-counter drugs that are commonly used and dispensed in hospitals will be required as a safety precaution, the U.S. government recently announced. Hospital patients will get a bar-coded identification bracelet to link them to their computerized medical records. Before a healthcare worker administers a drug to the patient, the healthcare worker will scan the patient’s bar code and the medicine to make sure they match.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is issuing a final rule requiring bar codes on medication and biological products to help protect patients from preventable medication errors. Bar codes also will be required for vaccines and blood products. The bar code rule is designed to support and encourage widespread adoption of advanced information systems that, in some hospitals, have reduced medication error rates by as much as 85 percent. The FDA estimates that the bar code rule, when fully implemented, will prevent nearly half a million adverse events and transfusion errors over 20 years.

New medicines covered by the rule will have to include bar codes within 60 days of FDA approval. Previously approved drugs will have to comply with the new requirements within two years.

CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED TO INCREASE NUMBER OF NURSE EDUCATORS

nurses for a healthier tomorrow, a coalition of nursing and healthcare groups addressing the nursing shortage, has launched a national advertising campaign called “Nursing education ... pass it on.” The goal is to increase the number of nurse educators, a shortage of which is causing some nursing schools—especially at public colleges—to turn away prospective students.

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, nursing schools closed the doors on more than 11,000 qualified applicants in 2003. Almost 65 percent of the reporting schools blamed faculty shortages, which are expected to worsen because more nurse faculty will be retiring, academic compensation is not keeping pace with industry pay and fewer nurses are graduating with the advanced degrees needed to teach. AFT Healthcare plans to create a task force to address the nurse faculty shortage. For more information on Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow, visit www.nursesource.org.