Author Archive for Scott Wallask

Scott Wallask is senior managing editor for HCPro's Hospital Safety Center (www.hospitalsafetycenter.com) and the award-winning newsletters, Briefings on Hospital Safety and Healthcare Life Safety Compliance. He has written about healthcare for HCPro since 1998, with a focus on occupational and building safety, emergency management, fire protection, and infection control. Prior to joining HCPro, he worked as a reporter for several newspapers in eastern Massachusetts. He holds a BA in print journalism, magna cum laude, from Northeastern University in Boston. Contact Scott at swallask@hcpro.com.

Today only: Save $200 on our Hospital Safety Center Symposium registration

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask checking in today.

Those of us here at HCPro have been working hard on the 3rd Annual Hospital Safety Center Symposium, which takes place May 14-15 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

We’ve posted the show’s full agenda here, and don’t forget to also check out the bios of our faculty/speakers.

My boss just asked me to make an offer for those of you who like to be “early” early birds: If you write back to me today, I can knock off $200 from the listed $895 price tag to attend (so you’ll pay $695 instead). This is a great offer for those of you who want to attend, as it’s 100 bucks less than our listed early-bird rate.

So if you’re interested in saving $200, e-mail me today…Scott W.

December 15, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0

Upcoming EPA deadline, from the latest Briefings on Hospital Safety

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask –

The EPA has an important deadline coming up December 29 regarding ethylene oxide sterilizer loads. That’s our lead story in the current issue of Briefings on Hospital Safety, which is available online for all subscribers to the Hospital Safety Center.

New Joint Commission FAQs posted

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask. Just wanted to give you a quick heads-up that The Joint Commission has updated it’s FAQs page.

Many of the existing FAQs have simply been updated to stay current, but there are also new ones on the following topics:

Labeling of medical gas cylinders
Locking electrical panels
Locking soiled utility rooms
Mounting of sharps containers
Patient-owned equipment
Placement of alcohol-based hand rub dispensers
Smoke-free campuses
Computers-on-wheels in corridors
Sprinkler protection for wardrobe cabinets

FAQs–along with the actual standards and Perspectives newsletter–are the only “official” venues for Joint Commission changes and interpretations, so they’re worth checking out.

November 25, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0

Joint Commission and DNV to speak at our Vegas program

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask –

I just wanted to give you all an exciting update about of 3^rd Annual Hospital Safety Center Symposium.

My colleagues at HCPro’s Association for Healthcare Accreditation Professionals, who are holding a conference at the same time as the Hospital Safety Center Symposium, have confirmed that speakers from The Joint Commission, DNV Healthcare, and the AOA’s Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program will all speak at the show. All attendees to the Hospital Safety Center Symposium will be invited to the accreditation session.

The symposium takes place May 14-15 in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, and early-bird registration is available now. Please join us if you haven’t already signed up.

November 19, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0

Emergency drills can help with more mundane events, too

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask checking in. You have to give a “thumbs up” to fire officials in Islamorada, FL, (in the Florida Keys) for taking a realistic view of a recent mass casualty exercise.

The fire department worked with Mariners Hospital in neighboring Tavernier testing community response to a scenario of a boat explosion.

A fire captain told The Reporter newspaper that while true mass casualty events don’t happen often in his community, the exercise still let authorities train for dealing with a surge of people. Each year, a large convention of bartenders arrives in the area, and sometimes the fire department has multiple trucks on the road at the same time.

The disaster drill helped fire officials better determine how a surge taxes their resources and what their responses would be to events in different sites, the fire captain told The Reporter.

At least from my view, it sounds like the fire department saw the “bigger picture” when it comes to drills.

November 11, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0

Preview of this month’s Briefings on Hospital Safety

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask logging on today.

I just wanted to remind all Hospital Safety Center subscribers that the latest issue of Briefings on Hospital Safety is available online.

You can check out the following articles:

An overview of the challenges coming in The Joint Commission’s new life safety chapter
Why one hospital endured a tough CMS review following two patient suicides
How moving patients to new buildings offered two hospitals chances to fine-tune their evacuation plans

If you’re not a subscriber to the Hospital Safety Center and want to learn more, click here.

November 07, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0

3rd Annual Hospital Safety Center Symposium returns to Vegas May 14-15

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask.

I’m happy to say I’ve already received several e-mails from folks about our 3rd Annual Hospital Safety Center Symposium.

If you’ve haven’t heard already, the symposium takes places take May 14-15, 2009, once again at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

This event is really the high point of the year for us here at HCPro, and I’m excited to announce our tentative speaker line-up:

Dean Samet, CHSP, director of regulatory compliance for Smith Seckman Reid based in Nashville and former associate director of standards at The Joint Commission
Joseph Cappiello, president of Simulation Education Services in Oak Brook Terrace, IL, and former vice president of accreditation field operations at The Joint Commission
Steve MacArthur, safety consultant for The Greeley Company, and primary author of this blog
Brad Keyes, CHSP, safety consultant for The Greeley Company and a former life safety specialist with The Joint Commission
Marge McFarlane, MS, CHSP, Wisconsin Hospital Preparedness Program Exercise (HSEEP) coordinator and part-time safety coordinator for Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, WI

Early-bird registration is available, so please plan on joining us at the the 3rd Annual Hospital Safety Center Symposium.

October 24, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0

A funny note from our Life Safety Code Boot Camp

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask logging on today.

I got a kick out a story I heard from Pete Leszczak, who is a fire protection engineer for the Department of Veterans Affairs in New Haven, CT, and also has his own consulting business.

Pete–along with fire protection engineer Josh Elvove–teach our Life Safety Code Boot Camp. They just wrapped up the latest edition of the boot camp in Dallas last week, and while at the hotel, Pete and Josh noticed manufacturer-recalled sprinkler heads were in place in the conference room and the corridors (the guest room sprinklers were okay).

Pete said he and Josh actually found the manager and alerted her about the recall, and she promised to pass the word on to the appropriate folks. Now that’s dedication, right? It also reminded me about the need to keep up on product recalls.

Our next Life Safety Code Boot Camp is in Orlando on November 10-12.

October 20, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0

A stress on security from a Virgin Mary lookalike

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask logging in today.

A story getting some attention up here in Massachusetts has to do with an apparition of the Virgin Mary on a window pane of an office building at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield.

Brushing aside religious discussions, to me an interesting aspect is that 500 people showed up on hospital property on Wednesday to view the image, which is on a window of an unoccupied office, according to The Republican of Springfield.

Think about the following security-related concerns that have cropped up Mercy Medical, and how they might apply to more urgent incidents:

Police have been called in to direct traffic in the area
Hospital security officers have worked to corral the onlookers to one end of the facility’s parking lot
Gatherers have placed flowers and votive candles at a makeshift shrine near the entrance

As you’d expect in this type of situation, the crowd has been peaceful. But if a throng was more unruly, 500 people outside the hospital would present challenges to any security department, particularly if police couldn’t immediately assist.

Back in 2003, another Massachusetts medical facility, Milton Hospital, had to deal with 25,000 unexpected visitors over a two-week period after it, too, became home to an window apparition of Mary.

That hospital had to exert some unusual tactics, such as asking onlookers to only come between 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. each day to view the image. During “non-viewing” hours, the hospital put a tarp over the window containing the likeness. The facility also had to hire extra security officers.

How would you deal with hundreds of onlookers outside your hospital?

October 02, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0

Although scoring perks will disappear, the BMP is still a good tool

Hi everyone, it’s Scott Wallask over at HCPro logging in today.

During our Environment of Care for 2009 seminar earlier this month, Greeley Company consultant Brad Keyes reminded attendees that the optional building maintenance (BMP) program will lose its scoring advantages as of January 1.

“This was a tough pill for The Joint Commission to swallow,” said Keyes, who is a former life safety specialist for the commission.

Part of the issue was that other regulations–the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services most notably–didn’t recognize the BMP and thus didn’t offer comparable benefits for its use.

Even though the scoring advantages will soon be gone, the BMP is still a good tool to track facilities concerns, and Keyes encouraged folks to continue using it in 2009 and beyond.

September 19, 2008 | Scott Wallask | Comments 0