Last week’s New York Times front-page piece on colored wristbands highlighted an issue I’ve been fretting about for years. We can achieve consensus on a $700B bailout in 3 days (well, perhaps not), but can’t agree on what color a DNR wristband should be? Wow. My interest in this subject began with a remarkable case [...]
The Color-Coded Wristband Saga
by Bob Wachter on September 29, 2008 in Health Policy, Hospital Care, Patient Safety/Medical Errors
Big Brother Arrives: Monitoring Patient Safety Compliance By Remote Video
by Bob Wachter on September 23, 2008 in Hospital Care, Industry/Pharma, Information Technology, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Quality Measurement, Transparency and Reporting
Today came the announcement that Suzanne Delbanco, founding director of the Leapfrog Group, has assumed the presidency of a company that tracks compliance with safety and quality practices via remote video. Big Brother, meet the Joint Commission. The report, in today’s Modern Healthcare, describes the process this way: Video auditing refers to a system in [...]
Why the Medical Record Needs to Become More Like Facebook
by Bob Wachter on September 11, 2008 in Hospital Care, Industry/Pharma, Information Technology, Medical Education/Academia, Nurses/Nursing
The explosive growth of Facebook and MySpace illustrates the market for electronic tools to enhance communication and collaboration. Could there possibly be another workplace more in need of social networking tools than the modern hospital? If you are not familiar with Facebook, find yourself a teenager and take a look over his shoulder while he [...]
The Latest JibJab Campaign Satire
by Bob Wachter on September 3, 2008 in Information Technology, Media/Press Coverage
My Olympics addiction has been replaced by “All Conventions, All The Time.” If you’re a politics junkie like me, you’ll love the latest hilarious campaign satire from the folks at JibJab, the ones who brought you the groundbreaking “This Land” knee-slapper in 2004. Check out the face on the guy who gets goosed by the [...]
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The Dangers of Curbside Consults… and Why We Need Them
April 29, 2013
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When I Was In the Final Four
April 5, 2013
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Measuring the Quality of Doctors and Hospitals: When Is Good Enough, Good Enough?
April 1, 2013
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HIT Job: How the New York Times Blew it on Healthcare IT
February 26, 2013
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