February 2009 - Posts

• Will Academic Medical Centers Show the Love to Their Faculty Quality Improvers?

  When we launched our hospitalist program in 1995, I dreamed that many of our faculty would become leaders in quality and patient safety. That dream has come true, but we now must leap over two hurdles: getting these superb physicians paid and promoted. Read More... Posted Sat, Feb 28 2009 9:52 AM by Bob Wachter | 1 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Quality Measurement, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Patient Safety/Medical Errors

• Are We Mature Enough to Make Use of Comparative Effectiveness Research?

  Thanks to White House budget director Peter Orszag, a Dartmouth Atlas aficionado, $1.1 billion found its way into the stimulus piñata for “comparative effectiveness” research. Terrific, but – to paraphrase Jack Nicholson – can we handle the truth?In other Read More... Posted Sat, Feb 21 2009 5:48 AM by Bob Wachter | 8 Comments Filed under: Quality Measurement, Efficiency, Industry/Pharma, Health Policy, Media/Press Coverage, Medical Ethics

• Checklists (The Sequel), 5 Million Lives, and the Magic of Measurable Results

  Last month’s New England Journal included another astounding checklist study, an international extravaganza that found nearly 50% reductions in mortality and complications after implementation of pre- and post-op surgical safety checklists. Wow. Coincidentally, Read More... Posted Fri, Feb 13 2009 8:22 AM by Bob Wachter | 4 Comments Filed under: Quality Improvement, Hospital Care, Transparency and Reporting, Quality Measurement, Hospitalists/Hospital Medicine, Patient Safety/Medical Errors, Health Policy

• The Recipe for Medical Errors: This One Takes the Cake

  We now know that most serious medical errors – including the biggies like wrong-site surgery – stem from communication failures. But these types of failures aren’t unique to medicine. Here’s a sidesplitting one from the cake-baking business.Thanks to Read More... Posted Sat, Feb 07 2009 9:15 PM by Bob Wachter | 2 Comments Filed under: Patient Safety/Medical Errors