At a news conference June 9 in Harrisburg, Pa., State Rep. John Payne (Dauphin County) and the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority announced a pilot project in which 11 hospitals will use a standardized color-coding system for patient wristbands. The system specifies color-coded wristbands to designate allergies, fall risks, do-not-resuscitate ...

Earlier this month, the Department of Defense (DoD) formally established the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center (AFHSC). The move recognized health surveillance as being critical to medical readiness and force health protection. ''One of the critical lessons learned from the first Gulf War and reinforced in Operations Iraqi Freedom and ...

What's the status of ensuring positive patient identification (PPID) at hospitals across the nation? A feature article in the upcoming January 2008 print edition of ADVANCE offers some insight. (The issue will print and mail Jan. 9.) From experience in dealing directly with more than 20 percent of all hospitals in the United States, InfoLogix ...

A Case of Murder and EHRs Copyright 2007 by Peter J. Groen and Jaime Nasuti. Published with permission of the co-authors. Editor's note: This is the final chapter in this series of blog posts, completing the co-authors' short story. If you don't want to spoil the ending, please be sure to scroll back and read the progression of chapters from ...

A Case of Murder and EHRs Copyright 2007 by Peter J. Groen and Jaime Nasuti. Published with permission of the co-authors. CHAPTER TEN As Dr. Douglas was recovering from the unbelievable events that had unfolded just days before, he made a final detailed pass through Congressman Martin's electronic medical record as he prepared to discharge ...

A Case of Murder and EHRs Copyright 2007 by Peter J. Groen and Jaime Nasuti. Published with permission of the co-authors.  CHAPTER NINE The Secret Service agents suddenly had their hands full. Dr. Rose immediately denied any wrongdoing and went on the offensive when confronted about his unauthorized access to a patient’s medical ...

A Case of Murder and EHRs Copyright 2007 by Peter J. Groen and Jaime Nasuti. Published with permission of the co-authors. CHAPTER EIGHT Dr. Douglas, the cardiologist taking care of Congressman Martin, sat in a stupor in the chief of staff's office. What was going on? Dr. Rose was not his favorite colleague...but to be tampering with his ...

 A Case of Murder and EHRs Copyright 2007 by Peter J. Groen and Jaime Nasuti. Published with permission of the co-authors. CHAPTER SEVEN The warning message began flashing on Dirk's computer screen, a somewhat rare occurrence. Not too many high-profile public officials tend to be admitted to the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, West ...

A Case of Murder and EHRs Copyright 2007 by Peter J. Groen and Jaime Nasuti. Published with permission of the co-authors. CHAPTER SIX Dr. Rose was a relatively new physician on the medical staff of the hospital. Upon hearing of the presidential hopeful's admittance to the hospital, Dr. Rose decided to take a quick look at the medical record of ...

An independent study about the total cost of ownership for mobile computing and communications platforms conducted by the Venture Development Corporation in June 2007 revealed that 72 percent of device failures in health care organizations are due to drops. For more information about mobile workstations in health care environments, watch for ...