All Entries Tagged With: "risk assessments"

With OR humidity, follow CMS and risk assessment findings

There is a great deal of not-quite-controversy relative to humidity concerns in operating rooms (OR) because of the personal comfort aspect.

The American Institute of Architects’ 2001 Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospital and Healthcare Facilities indicate a temperature range [more]

Using your Swiss Army knife on protected health information

Recently on our chat group, Patient Safety Talk, someone raised a question about how to properly dispose of medication bottles that had patient information on them in terms of HIPAA compliance.

My best advice would be to [more]

Be wary about using fire drills as emergency management tests

I was recently asked whether fire drills could count towards The Joint Commission’s requirements for emergency management tests under EM.03.01.03.

I suppose if you evaluated a fire drill to the extent called for under [more]

Doctor stabbed: When something goes wrong, security feels the heat

Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston finds itself in the unenviable position of trying to deal with a pair of high-profile security incidents within the past nine days. [more]

Further thoughts on patient-owned equipment in the hospital

A quick follow-up to a post I made last week about patient-owned equipment coming into the hospital:

One thing you might want to consider relative to these types of devices is whether [more]

Joint Commission offers guidance, but no mandates, for patient-owned items

Many of you deal with patient-owned equipment, such as hair dryers, coming into the hospital.

The Joint Commission published an FAQ on this topic last year, and this is one of those instances in which, in opening the risk assessment door, the FAQ provides just enough semi-specific information to confuse matters. [more]

Exit signs in mechanical rooms? It depends …

I was asked recently whether exit signs are required in mechanical rooms, as a hospital had received a citation from a Joint Commission surveyor concerning this matter.

There is no specific requirement in the Life Safety Code for mechanical spaces to have exit signs. Moving on to The Joint Commission’s standards, [more]

Sinks, ice machines, and a little infection control

A little while back, I was asked about an under-the-sink area that was dirty with chipped Formica along the bottom of the sink cabinet. The same organization had dripping ice machines that were rusty.

As it turns out, there is a dual applicability to these problems, as they can be curtailed [more]

Risk assessments are the way to go with power strip use

As you might guess, I’m in favor of using the risk assessment process to look at the issue of power strip use in hospitals.

And I’d start with a determination of whether a power strip is the most appropriate strategy, with the recognition that once you start with the power strip as opposed to additional electrical outlets, you’ve increased [more]

Behavioral settings are tailor-made for risk assessments

I heard about a surveyor who correctly noted that gooseneck faucets could be considered a hanging risk for behavioral patients.

This is where the risk assessment process blooms in all its beauty. The behavioral health physical environment is chock-a-block [more]