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Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC, joined the growing ranks of health care organizations implementing the innovative quality assurance and process improvement strategy--Six Sigma. Keith Weatherman, [...]

Salaries for case management are increasing, but the vast majority of case managers are working far more than the traditional 40-hour week, according to the results of the 2004 Hospital [...]

Key Points * Having hospital staff fill all shifts leads to consistency of care, greater quality. * Nurses can earn much more, while hospital outlays are lower without agency fees. [...]

Higher patient copays and increasing numbers of people who are working but not insured have made the management of self-pay accounts a more crucial issue than ever for most of [...]

It's been clear for a while that patient access managers could increase their marketability by beefing up their business office and patient accounting experience. But the very latest trend appears [...]

Hospital ethics committees are meant to be both a key resource and watchdog at their institutions, helping clinicians work through difficult cases and helping ensure the facility provides medical care [...]

Health care workers with HIV or a history of atopic dermatitis are at real risk of serious complications if they receive smallpox vaccine. But can they be safely screened out [...]

Like some unusual alignment of the planets, the new year begins with a convergence of major issues regarding the nation's infection control programs and their most critical professional partner: the [...]

Hospitals and other health care organizations must take action on a local level to combat the nursing shortage that threatens the quality of the nation's entire health care system, says [...]

In the most comprehensive look at the subject to date, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, and Vanderbilt University's School of Nursing in Nashville, TN, [...]

With the nursing shortage reaching almost-crisis levels, hospitals across the country are getting more aggressive in their efforts to recruit nurses to their institution. Sign-on bonuses in the five figures, [...]

Executive Summary As of July 1, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations will require you to assess staffing by using specific indicators based on clinical/service and human resource [...]

For years, officials at the East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC) in Opelika, AL, looked at their South Bend, IN-based Press, Ganey Associates Inc. patient satisfaction reports as something to read [...]

To be personally involved in an adverse patient incident is a very distressing experience. Unsafe situations and poorly designed health care processes can trap even the most competent person into [...]

One of the first milestones Anthony M. Bruno, MPA, MEd, reached in his mission to create a brand-new department of patient access and business operations at Philadelphia's Presbyterian Medical Center [...]

For years, officials at the East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC) in Opelika, AL, looked at their Press, Ganey of South Bend, IN, patient satisfaction reports as something to read and [...]

While hospital discharge planners make certain each patient's discharge and transition in care are handled with quality of care and safety in mind, it's the job of hospital operations chiefs [...]

Mandatory testing of health care workers poses legal risks Hospital officials attempting to require HIV testing of health care workers who perform invasive procedures can expect to have that policy [...]

Key Points * If key stakeholders are not involved in the planning process, they will not participate in the change initiative. * Make sure key participants understand the relationship between [...]

Executive Summary To solve the challenge of filling call panels, money, turf, and lifestyle issues of physicians must be addressed. * Use of hospitalists and physician assistants can help provide [...]

Are you as aware as you could be of how your access employees speak to the customers? Hospitals are increasingly taking note of not only what is said, but the [...]

A new best practice registration manual, jointly written by an eight-member team at Adventist Health, has been 'very useful' for both new registration hires and admitting managers throughout the hospital [...]

A number of hospitals across the country have found they can drastically reduce the cost of staff salaries, while at the same time ensuring full nursing shifts, through shift bidding. [...]

An internal case management system for hospital employees who are injured on the job has reduced costs and increased return to work for Allina Hospitals and Clinics, based in Minneapolis. [...]

Many ED managers complain that their department is the Rodney Dangerfield of the hospital because they can't get any respect from upper management. But respect is earned, not given, says [...]

Each year, Covenant Health System in Knoxville, TN, has a 'Case Management University' for nurses in the system who are interested in becoming case managers. 'The nurses who participate get [...]

If you want to improve your patient satisfaction ratings, don't start by looking at how happy your patients are. Start by looking at satisfaction levels among your staff. That's the [...]

Would you like to be responsible for a million-dollar increase in your hospital's bottom line? By complying with the staffing effectiveness standards from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare [...]

Hospitals with high injury rates or a high proportion of ergonomic injuries will receive targeted inspections in some regions of the country under a new enforcement program for ergonomics. Four [...]

Higher salaries, better hours, bonuses, incentives, education programs. You name it, rehab directors have tried it to recruit and retain nurses. But St. Francis Health Center in Topeka, KS, has [...]

News: After a hospital hired a patient care technician who had a rape conviction, suit was brought against the hospital by a patient alleging sexual assault by the hospital employee. [...]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Often, patient education is squeezed into new employee orientation along with all the other information that needs to be covered in a short amount of time. Therefore, it [...]

The University Hospital of Arkansas in Little Rock is taking its 'Strengthening Bridges' program for access employees on the road and finding some additional benefits for the home crowd as [...]

Ever since the nursing shortage came to the fore in health care circles, concerns have been raised about its possible impact on patient safety. But even experts have not been [...]

Ever since the nursing shortage came to the fore in health care circles, concerns have been raised about its possible impact on patient safety. But even experts have not been [...]

The current focus on systems when exploring the cause of medical errors overlooks one important fact: People still are interacting with those systems. 'There are two things you have to [...]

(Editor's note: In the first part of a two-part series on raising staff morale, we offer you the latest research on what surgery center and hospital employees want. In next [...]

Executive Summary If staff are involved in selecting a new ED nurse manager, it improves satisfaction and morale. * Applicants can be interviewed by a panel of staff members. * [...]

Teamwork is an important component of case management. Case managers must closely collaborate with other caregivers and providers as well as other members of the case management department. It is [...]

Get a better fit for your new access employee Do a trial run Patient access jobs are challenging to fill for a variety of reasons. One is the need to [...]

Hospitals, pharmacy HR environment evolving to more positive, respectful Bad attitudes need not apply The days of hospitals putting up with a 'House, M.D.' personality are fading away as pharmacy [...]

Overhaul of staff is done 'right, not fast' Process takes more than 6 months Taking nearly seven months to transition from an ED staffing model of a contracted physician group [...]

Use 'visual audits' as coaching opportunities 'Customer service is something that is sometimes really hard to monitor,' says Linda Smith, manager of patient registration and centralized scheduling at Barnes-Jewish St. [...]

Are you sure -- really sure -- that access staff aren't being rude? Find out for yourself Customer service is more important than ever for access departments. So managers can't [...]