AHRQ LAUNCHES ONLINE PATIENT SAFETY NETWORK

The agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has recently unveiled the Patient Safety Network (PSNet), a Web-based clearinghouse for resources on improving patient safety and preventing medical errors. PSNet offers weekly updates of patient safety literature, news, tools, and meetings and a large collection of annotated links to important research and other information on patient safety.

The site is a "one-stop portal for patient safety resources to help healthcare professionals improve healthcare for all Americans," says AHRQ director Carolyn Clancy. For more information, visit the Patient Safety Network at: http://psnet.ahrq.gov.

SURVEY SHOWS SAFER MEDICATION PRACTICES SPREADING

Hospitals have made significant progress in crucial areas of medication safety over the past four years, according to a recent survey by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Areas of improvement since the first survey in 2000 include a 43 percent increase in the use of nonpunitive, system-based approaches to error reduction; a 30 percent increase in standardized, automated methods of communicating drug orders, such as linking computer systems with pharmacies; a 29 percent improvement in efforts to minimize problems with look-alike and sound-alike drugs; and a 23 percent improvement in patient education. Survey results are at www.ismp.org/Survey/Hospital/Introl.htm.

RESEARCHERS PROJECT 11 MILLION MORE UNINSURED BY 2013

More than one in four american workers under age 65 will be uninsured in 2013, or nearly 56 million people, and the increase will be driven by workers’ increasing inability to afford health insurance, according to researchers Todd Gilmer and Richard Kronick of the University of California, San Diego.

Gilmer and Kronick base their estimates on federal projections of health spending, personal income and other population characteristics. They say healthcare coverage will continue to decline as more Americans find it unaffordable. While factors such as changes in employment patterns and demographic shifts have some mild effects on healthcare coverage, cost has the biggest effect. As a result, according to the researchers’ projections, 11 million more people will lack coverage in 2013 than in 2003.

"Regardless of whether healthcare benefits are being paid out of the employer’s or employee’s pocket, and without regard to the amount of premium contribution that employees are required to make, there is a remarkably tight relationship between affordability and coverage rates," the researchers say. "It is unlikely that we will be able to solve the problem of the uninsured without some form of universal health insurance requiring contributions from some combination of employers, employees and taxpayers," they continue. "It is also unlikely that either our current system of employer-sponsored coverage or an alternative system of universal coverage will be sustainable without more effective efforts at cost containment." The complete article is posted
online at www.healthaffairs.org.

NQF ADOPTS GUIDELINES FOR HOME HEALTHCARE

The national quality forum has adopted national voluntary consensus standards for home health providers intended to improve the quality of home healthcare, assist consumers in making decisions, and aid physicians and discharge planners in placement decisions. The approved standards include 15 performance measures, eight research documentations and nine additional recommendations. For more information on the Home Health Performance Measures, visit www.QualityForum.org.

JOBS WITH MOST SERIOUS INJURIES

The bureau of labor statistics listed 12 occupations that had more than 20,000 cases involving days away from work due to injuries on the job in 2003. The occupations are:

• labor/material movers (89,510)
• heavy/tractor-trailer truck drivers (71,900)
• nursing aides, orderlies and attendants (56,820)
• construction laborers (41,620);
• janitors/cleaners (not including maids/housekeeping staff) (35,660)
• retail salespersons (35,420)
• truck drivers, light or delivery services (33,280)
• carpenters (29,480)
• stock clerks (26,520)
• registered nurses (20,650)
• maids/housekeeping staff (20,410)
• maintenance/repair workers, general (20,350)