May 2009 - Posts

Accountability
May 22, 2009 7:07 AM by Scott Warner

Accountability is a word I hear a lot these days, usually in the form of "That person needs to be held accountable." I think what people usually mean is "That person needs to be punished." But accountability simply means to be answerable. One who is accountable Read More...

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A Thousand Words
May 18, 2009 6:21 AM by Scott Warner

Incident reports are commonplace in healthcare, meant to record the facts. But do they? I've written about write-ups, including their presentation as conclusions and use as political bats. If you've worked in healthcare any length of time, you're well Read More...

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Perception is Reality
May 12, 2009 6:08 AM by Scott Warner

"Everyone in the lab goes to break at once," a nurse manager once told me, "and the lab turnaround time goes to pot." Apparently, she had seen the laboratory staff walk by on their breaks. A complaint presented as a conclusion is already proven in the Read More...

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Early Lessons From H1N1
May 6, 2009 6:22 AM by Scott Warner

The other evening as I sat in the bleachers of our local school waiting to watch my son perform in a concert, a friend said, "I checked your hospital web site for information about swine flu, and the number of cases wasn't accurate." My friend wasn't Read More...

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At the Local Level
May 1, 2009 7:08 AM by Scott Warner

All disasters begin and end at the local level. That's also true for swine flu (H1N1). Your local response is critical. As our hospital's Safety Officer, I'm involved in local planning and also part of our Incident Command System (ICS) structure, created Read More...

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