Error Reduction in Health Care. A Systems Approach to Improving Patient Safety

The detection, reporting, measurement, and minimization of medical errors and harms is now a core requirement in clinical organizations throughout developed societies. This book focuses on this major new area in health care. It explores the nature of medical error, its incidence in different health care settings, and strategies for minimizing errors and their harmful consequences to patients. Written by leading authorities, it discusses the practical issues involved in reducing errors in health care – for the clinician, the health policy adviser, and ethical and legal health professionals.

Learn how to improve the quality of health care offered by your institution using data you already have Improving Health Care Quality: Case Studies with JMP ® teaches readers how to systematically identify problems, collect and interpret data, and solve issues in the real world. Relying on JMP ® software, the authors walk readers through the process of applying quality improvement techniques to real-life health care problems. The case studies provided in the book vary significantly and provide a wide-ranging view of the application of quality improvement techniques in the health care field. Studies regarding length of stay of diabetes patients to benchmarking the costs of hip replacement all serve to illuminate and explain the underlying concepts of statistical analysis. The authors break each case study down into several sections, including: Background and Task Data and Data Management Analysis Summary Concepts and Tools Exercises and Discussion Questions Each section reinforces the lessons learned in each case study and helps the reader learn to apply statistical data to their own health care quality problems.

A Practical Approach to Special Care in Dentistry Learn to treat dental patients with disabilities or who are medically compromised A Practical Approach to Special Care in Dentistry delivers a comprehensive and robust overview of special care dentistry reflecting the most common compromised clinical conditions dentists will regularly encounter. It discusses more than 50 topics based on real-world clinical cases focusing on two main areas: patients with disabilities and medically compromised patients. The book uses a problem-based learning approach and helps the reader to apply knowledge in a clinical case context. Each chapter contains a case report establishing the main risk factors relating to the provision of dental treatment. That is followed by a practical and realistic set of adaptations for the reader to follow to minimise the rate and severity of potential complications for their patient. The book also includes: A thorough introduction to patients suffering from disabilities, including physical disabilities, like cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and cognitive impairments, like Down’s Syndrome Comprehensive explorations of the treatment of medically compromised patients, like those with infectious diseases, endocrine diseases, hepatorenal disease, and cardiovascular disease Practical discussions of other special patient situations, like those with allergies, antiresorptive and antiangiogenic drugs, terminal patients, underhoused patients, and pregnant or breastfeeding patients Perfect for general dentists, undergraduate students of odontology, and graduate students of special care dentistry, A Practical Approach to Special Care in Dentistry is also a must-read resource for dental specialists in special care dentistry, hospital odontology, geriatric odontology, oral surgery, and dental hygienists.

What types of mental health care are right for the 21st century—in all countries, around the world? What is the best balance of primary care and specialist mental health care for people with mental illness? What is the best evidence for effective treatments and services? Which methods are most suitable for answering these questions? These are the tough issues addressed by this book. Leading experts from across the world bring their experience to bear in a series of chapters that set out the very best evidence in this field. They present clear accounts of what is known, extensively referenced, with critical appraisals of the strength of the evidence and the robustness of the conclusions that can be drawn. This book was inspired by the work of Michele Tansella on the development of community care globally. It comprises four sections, identifying the challenges associated with providing mental health services in high-, middle- and low-income countries, then describing ways to meet these challenges. A section on new research methods to produce practical evidence is a novel aspect of the book. The final section addresses how best to deliver new forms of care, bearing in mind the human resources available. The chapters extensively cite specific studies to enhance the practical relevance. Much of the cited research involves service users so their voice is heard throughout the text. Mental health is rapidly becoming recognised as one of the leading global health challenges. This book adds to our knowledge of the challenge and the solutions and stands to make a significant contribution to global mental health.

A hands-on guide to using statistics in health research, from planning, through analysis, and on to reporting A Practical Approach to Using Statistics in Health Research offers an easy to use, step-by-step guide for using statistics in health research. The authors use their experience of statistics and health research to explain how statistics fit in to all stages of the research process. They explain how to determine necessary sample sizes, interpret whether there are statistically significant difference in outcomes between groups, and use measured effect sizes to decide whether any changes are large enough to be relevant to professional practice. The text walks you through how to identify the main outcome measure for your study and the factor which you think may influence that outcome and then determine what type of data will be used to record both of these. It then describes how this information is used to select the most appropriate methods to report and analyze your data. A step-by-step guide on how to use a range of common statistical procedures are then presented in separate chapters. To help you make sure that you are using statistics robustly, the authors also explore topics such as multiple testing and how to check whether measured data follows a normal distribution. Videos showing how to use computer packages to carry out all the various methods mentioned in the book are available on our companion web site. This book: • Covers statistical aspects of all the stages of health research from planning to final reporting • Explains how to report statistical planning, how analyses were performed, and the results and conclusion • Puts the spotlight on consideration of clinical significance and not just statistical significance • Explains the importance of reporting 95% confidence intervals for effect size • Includes a systematic guide for selection of statistical tests and uses example data sets and videos to help you understand exactly how to use statistics Written as an introductory guide to statistics for healthcare professionals, students and lecturers in the fields of pharmacy, nursing, medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy, A Practical Approach to Using Statistics in Health Research:From Planning to Reporting is a handy reference that focuses on the application of statistical methods within the health research context.

Practical, proven techniques for improving team performance in the health care world Teams and collaboration have become an expectation in most healthcare facilities and environments. It is accepted that high performance, patient focused teams are critical to quality patient care. However, there is often a wide gap between traditional practices and the new behaviours and practices required for teamwork and collaboration. Improving Health Care Team Performance goes beyond theory to provide the knowledge, tools, and techniques required to develop a single team, or to develop an organization wide team based culture, from which exceptional patient care emerges. Most uniquely it emphasizes that effective teamwork goes far beyond team dynamics and provides detailed description of additional requirements, such as shared learning and change compatibility, and how to fulfill them. A practical handbook for healthcare leaders striving to ensure a superior patient experience and high quality of care, Improving Healthcare Team Performance not only provides specifics on how to develop high functioning teams, whether multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, or departmental but also offers those dealing with the common healthcare leadership challenges of low morale, poor communication, interpersonal conflict, and lack of knowledge sharing the tools to take immediate action to improve performance. Providing a proven approach to addressing and preventing everyday issues impacting patient care, Improving Health Care Team Performance contains everything needed to identify areas of greatest need within a team or department, take targeted action to address key gaps, and measure progress towards positive change. Presents a clear depiction of what constitutes collaboration and a high-performing patient focused team. This includes the skills and practices required to improve team performance and ultimately the quality of patient care, how to develop new attitudes and behaviours within the team, as well as the leadership requirements for success in a patient focused, team based culture. Provides a set of development tools accessible online to help the reader quickly and easily apply the knowledge gleaned. Offers targeted solutions including tips/recommendations, a step-by-step approach for affecting necessary change at every level of the organization, and skills and team development activities. Designed for leaders working in any healthcare environment, Improving Health Care Team Performance is a practical approach to improving team performance and the quality of patient care.

Concisely covers all the important concepts in an easy-to-understand way Gaining a strong sense of signals and systems fundamentals is key for general proficiency in any electronic engineering discipline, and critical for specialists in signal processing, communication, and control. At the same time, there is a pressing need to gain mastery of these concepts quickly, and in a manner that will be immediately applicable in the real word. Simultaneous study of both continuous and discrete signals and systems presents a much easy path to understanding signals and systems analysis. In A Practical Approach to Signals and Systems, Sundararajan details the discrete version first followed by the corresponding continuous version for each topic, as discrete signals and systems are more often used in practice and their concepts are relatively easier to understand. In addition to examples of typical applications of analysis methods, the author gives comprehensive coverage of transform methods, emphasizing practical methods of analysis and physical interpretations of concepts. Gives equal emphasis to theory and practice Presents methods that can be immediately applied Complete treatment of transform methods Expanded coverage of Fourier analysis Self-contained: starts from the basics and discusses applications Visual aids and examples makes the subject easier to understand End-of-chapter exercises, with a extensive solutions manual for instructors MATLAB software for readers to download and practice on their own Presentation slides with book figures and slides with lecture notes A Practical Approach to Signals and Systems is an excellent resource for the electrical engineering student or professional to quickly gain an understanding of signal analysis concepts – concepts which all electrical engineers will eventually encounter no matter what their specialization. For aspiring engineers in signal processing, communication, and control, the topics presented will form a sound foundation to their future study, while allowing them to quickly move on to more advanced topics in the area. Scientists in chemical, mechanical, and biomedical areas will also benefit from this book, as increasing overlap with electrical engineering solutions and applications will require a working understanding of signals. Compact and self contained, A Practical Approach to Signals and Systems be used for courses or self-study, or as a reference book.

When you are ready to implement measures to improve patient safety, this is the book to consult. Charles Vincent, one of the world's pioneers in patient safety, discusses each and every aspect clearly and compellingly. He reviews the evidence of risks and harms to patients, and he provides practical guidance on implementing safer practices in health care. The second edition puts greater emphasis on this practical side. Examples of team based initiatives show how patient safety can be improved by changing practices, both cultural and technological, throughout whole organisations. Not only does this benefit patients; it also impacts positively on health care delivery, with consequent savings in the economy. Patient Safety has been praised as a gateway to understanding the subject. This second edition is more than that – it is a revelation of the pervading influence of health care errors, and a guide to how these can be overcome. «… The beauty of this book is that it describes the complexity of patient safety in a simple coherent way and captures the breadth of issues that encompass this fascinating field. The author provides numerous ways in which the reader can take this subject further with links to the international world of patient safety and evidence based research… One of the most difficult aspects of patient safety is that of implementation of safer practices and sustained change. Charles Vincent, through this book, provides all who read it clear examples to help with these challenges» From a review in Hospital Medicine by Dr Suzette Woodward, Director of Patient Safety. Access 'Essentials of Patient Safety – Free Online Introduction': www.wiley.com/go/vincent/patientsafety/essentials

This book covers system safety methods related to occupational health and safety. It argues for anticipating hazards, risk reduction strategies for hazards processes, and making sure workers' tasks correspond to human capabilities. To this end, the text provides pro-active methods for identifying hazards, assessing risk, analyzing hazards, using tools from system safety, conducting post-incident investigations, considering human errors, applying risk reduction strategies, and managing process safety. While emphasizing methods suitable for all countries, it includes references to U.S. military and Department of Energy documents, as well as a discussion of fault-tree construction.