Insights from the Armstrong Institute
This week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued two reports that are simultaneously scary and encouraging. First, the scary news: A national survey conducted in 2011 found that one in every 25 U.S. hospital patients experienced a healthcare-associated infection. That’s 648,000 patients with a combined 722,000 infections. About 75,000 of those patients […]
Far too many patients are harmed rather than helped from their interactions with the health care system. While reducing this harm has proven to be devilishly difficult, we have found that checklists help. Checklists help to reduce ambiguity about what to do, to prioritize what is most important, and to clarify the behaviors that are […]
I recently spoke to an executive in the energy industry who had a joint replacement at a hospital in New York. His wound developed an infection, which required four additional hospital admissions and several operations. He asked me about hand hygiene in hospitals. Proudly, I told him that, at Johns Hopkins Hospital, we are at 80 […]
My daughter just asked me what I was thankful for this Thanksgiving. As I reflected on the blessings in my family and personal life, I also thought about what I was grateful for in patient safety. While progress has been slower than any of us would want, we certainly have many things to count: Patient- […]
Caregivers’ potential to reduce preventable harm and improve patient outcomes is profound. Consider the news that came out of Spain last week from a collaborative of nearly 200 intensive care units. This nationwide effort, with support from the Armstrong Institute at Johns Hopkins, the World Health Organization, the Spanish Health Minister and clinicians across the country, […]