Author Archive for Steve MacArthur
Steve MacArthur is a consultant for The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro. He brings 30 years of healthcare management and consulting experience to his work with hospitals, physician offices, and ambulatory care facilities across the country. He is the author of HCPro's Hospital Safety Director's Handbook and is contributing editor for Briefings on Hospital Safety. Contact Steve at smacarthur@greeley.com.
Think about steps to thwart not just infant abductions, but kidnappings of older kids
There is some indication that there is at least one Joint Commission surveyor who is very keen to see what processes are in place to avoid potential abductions of children in the 12+ age range (I tend to think of them as adolescents as a general descriptor).
While environment of care standard EC.02.01.01, EP 9 does specifically mention [more]
Extra fire drill as part of The Joint Commission’s ILSMs
I fielded a question a little while back about using a fire drill as an interim life safety measure (ILSM) under Joint Commission standard LS.01.02.01 EP 11.
The actual verbiage from the pre-2009 standard was that each organization would conduct [more]
Go ahead, ask your haulers about regulated medical waste
A lot of the rules regarding regulated medical waste live at the state level, and generally the most knowledgeable folks in the food chain are the medical waste disposal people — in other words, your vendors and haulers.
My consultative advice would be [more]
Even with electronic water temperature control, an argument for mixing valves
I caught wind of an organization that uses an electronic water temperature control system that keeps the water temp at 110° F. There’s been some pushback from facilities folks about whether they still need to install a mixing valve.
I would suggest that if the organization has a risk assessment finding that indicates a mixing valve is not necessary, [more]
Evaluating your emergency management inventory process
Joint Commission standard EM.03.01.01, EP 3 requires an annual review of your emergency management inventory process.
This is where you look back at exercises and real events and see [more]
Properly secured medical gas cylinders center on convenience — that’s all
I’m told there was a mention at the ASHE conference that The Joint Commission might introduce a compressed medical gas cylinder standard in 2011.
And what wonders would result from a compressed gas storage standard? Oh yes, that’ll force [more]
From infection control to South Park . . .
CMS is trying to tie hospital-acquired infections to reimbursement. Of course, ratcheting down on reimbursement only [more]
Hospital fire reveals several truths about emergency preparedness
There’s an update on a fire at Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London, CT, in this week’s issue of our free sister e-newsletter, Emergency Management Alert.
As a consultant, I frequently ask folks what kind of scenarios they are using to comply with EM.03.01.03, EP 3, which mandates an emergency response exercise, including an escalating scenario in which the hospital is unable to be supported by the local community.
One of the truisms I’ve observed over time is that [more]
Alarm transmission options are tight when it comes to fire drill requirements
There was discussion swirling this week on HCPro’s Patient Safety Talk group about whether folks are required to actually pull the fire alarm during a fire drill.
Unfortunately this is not quite as clear-cut as one would want, though perhaps [more]
Nuclear medicine admixing and USP 797 implications
During client work at one organization, I heard that nuclear medicine folks were doing some admixing of nuke med preparations. A question was raised as to whether there would be a need for USP 797 compliance.
Some of you may remember the rage several years back [more]
