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 ...

As I mentioned in my last post, these should be the best of times for ''Infection Preventionists'' (formerly known as Infection Control Officers). After years of trying to get someone – anyone – to pay attention to their work, their day in the sun has finally arrived. But they are far from a joyful bunch. Why?In my talk to 4,000 members of the ...

I gave a keynote yesterday to the first-ever meeting on “Diagnostic Error in Medicine.” I hope the confab helps put diagnostic errors on the safety map. But, as Ricky Ricardo would say, the experts and advocates in the audience have some ‘splainin’ to do.I date the origin of the patient safety field to the publication of the IOM report on medical ...

Let's make this short and sweet. In this week's New Yorker, Atul Gawande describes Peter Pronovost's crusade to improve the safety of intensive care through the use of checklists. If it sounds dull, it's not. In fact, it is thrilling and inspiring. Gawande glides effortlessly from microscopic detail to panoramic view and back again to help us ...