Ten strategies strongly encouraged for adoption; a further 12 strategies encouraged
MONDAY, March 4 (HealthDay News) -- An expert panel is strongly encouraging the immediate adoption of 10 patient safety strategies and encouraging the adoption of a further 12, according to a supplement published in the March 5 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Paul G. Shekelle, M.D., Ph.D., from the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, Calif., and colleagues conducted an evidence-based assessment of 41 patient safety strategies, identifying 10 that should be "strongly encouraged" for adoption and an additional 12 that should be "encouraged" for adoption. The results have been published in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) report, "Making Health Care Safer II: An Updated Critical Analysis of the Evidence for Patient Safety Practices," building on a 2001 AHRQ report examining patient safety practices.
The 10 "strongly encouraged" strategies are: (1) preoperative and anesthesia checklists; (2) bundles that include checklists to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections; (3) interventions to reduce urinary catheter use; (4) bundles of various strategies to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia; (5) hand hygiene; (6) the do-not-use list for hazardous abbreviations; (7) interventions to reduce pressure ulcers; (8) barrier precautions to prevent infections; (9) use of real-time ultrasonography for central line placement; and (10) interventions to improve prophylaxis for venous thromboembolisms.
"Our expert panel believes that providers should not delay adopting these practices," Shekelle and colleagues write. "Enough is known now to permit health care systems to move ahead."
Several authors disclosed financial ties to various health care industries.
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