Case Studies
Olean General Hospital is one of only a few community hospitals in the nation to offer a center of excellence in hyperbaric oxygen services and state-of-the-art wound care therapies and treatments. This is accomplished through a partnership with a company specializing in wound care and hyperbaric…
As part of a larger process redesign focused on Northern Westchester Hospital's inpatient medical and surgical units, this initiative had a specific goal of creating an efficient, effective, and patient-centered support services process that would improve patient satisfaction and provide…
In the winter of 2010, Newark-Wayne Community Hospital initiated its first Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program (CUSP) in its emergency department. CUSP, designed to improve patient safety and culture, integrates safety practices into a unit's daily work. It encourages frontline team…
For the past three years, New York Medical College at Westchester Medical Center has been developing handoff best practices, making use of both conventional methods (face-to-face sign-outs where interruptions are minimized and standardized computer sign-out forms), as well as more novel methods…
Although electronic reporting systems for near misses and adverse events have been implemented nationwide (and recently at New York Medical College at Westchester Medical Center), physician participation in such systems has typically been limited. Previous efforts to improve such rates have met…
For 18 months, New York Medical College at Westchester Medical Center implemented several interventions to reduce inpatient morbidity and mortality related to cardiopulmonary arrests. In November 2009, a rapid response system went into full operation. Leading up to the 'go live' date, the hospital…
Flash sterilization the rapid sterilization of items using steam occurs in many operating rooms in the event that surgical instrumentation requiring immediate use becomes contaminated. However, the process is over-utilized, increasing the risk of infection in surgical patients. In the interest of…
Effective teamwork and communication techniques can improve quality and safety, decrease patient harm and promote cross professional collaboration. The TeamSTEPPS program developed by the (AHRQ) and the U.S. Department of Defense is an evidence based and comprehensive teamwork and communication…
The advent of computerized tomography (CT) has revolutionized diagnostic radiology. The use of CT for diagnostic studies throughout the nation increased more than 300 percent from 1993 to 2007, and at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center the increase was 40% from 2005 to 2010. By its nature, CT…
Missed or delayed cancer diagnoses are a frequent cause of patient harm and malpractice lawsuits in the ambulatory setting. Several domains have been identified that contribute to preventable delays in diagnosis, ranging from system factors (such as delays in obtaining appointments) to physician…