| Rapid Response Teams |
| “Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) are like responding to a fire when it is just at the spark stage,” explains Brian Dalton, M.D., chief of the Hospitalist Medicine Program at Quincy Medical Center. Learn about RRTs, who has them, and what they mean for you, the patient. |
| Southcoast Hospitals Donates Equipment To Local Paramedic Services |
| Southcoast Hospitals recently
donated 30 life-saving intraosseous (IO) infusion devices to
11 local non-profit paramedic services, further expanding the
capabilities of the region’s pre-hospital care providers. |
| The
Comfort Room at MetroWest Medical Center Offers a Place “Like
Home” |
| The age-old adage “There’s
no place like home” may be losing some of its conviction
with the establishment of the “Comfort Room” at
MetroWest Medical Center’s Leonard Morse Hospital. |
| Brockton Hospital Offers Latest
In Anesthesia Technology |
| Brockton Hospital is offering
patients the most clinically sophisticated method for monitoring
and delivering anesthesia during surgery. The new system,
known as the BIS (pronounced BIZ) monitoring system, improves
the quality of patient care and enhances patient comfort by
precisely monitoring a patient’s level of consciousness
during surgery, enabling anesthesiologists to continually deliver
a tailor-made dose of anesthesia throughout the procedure. |
| RHCI Launches Stroke Peer Visitor
Program |
| A stroke affects the whole person.
There are the physical effects, such as communication and swallowing
difficulties, to the emotional, behavioral and social ones,
to even possible financial difficulties. No one knows better
how to cope than someone who has been through it him or herself. |
| Mercy Medical Center Unveils
New ER Services |
| The Emergency Department at Mercy
Medical Center has recently completed a major renovation project
that places an emphasis on delivering the best medical care
possible, as quickly as possible, utilizing the latest available
technology. |
| Physician Heal Thyself |
| Some would say a medical education
goes against the grain of humanity. In your very first class,
you are asked to cut up a cadaver – something decidedly
animalistic. |
| Coping Kits Help Comfort Young
Emerson Patients |
| Parents know that oftentimes distraction
is the best medicine. Emerson Hospital recently has taken this
approach, in part, by distributing colorful bags of toys – called
pediatric coping kits – to all children who enter the
hospital through the emergency department or upon admission
to pediatrics. |
| Mount Auburn Takes Individualized
Patient Care to Community |
| She had a simple idea – a
community outreach program of the Baron’s Center for
Men’s Health at Mount Auburn Hospital. She would go out
into the community and talk to the public about prostate cancer.
She would help men with little resources get screened, get
treatment if necessary, and then she would move on. |
| Waist Packs Track ER Patients
At BWH |
| High-tech waist packs will help
alleviate emergency room doctors and nurses at Brigham and
Women’s Hospital now by monitoring vital signs as the
patients wait to be seen. |
| MGH
Works To Translate All Materials Into “Plain Language” |
| Taking prescribed medication incorrectly
or leaving the hospital not knowing how to take care of a continuing
illness can have catastrophic effects. But problems with health
literacy affect people of all demographics. Even good readers
struggle to understand medical jargon, especially when they're
sick, stressed or busy. |
| Patients First Podcast |
| Listen to a new Podcast about
how Massachusetts hospitals are leading the nation in voluntarily
posting nurse staffing plans on the Patients First website – www.patientsfirstma.org. |
| Fleet of Smart Pumps Unveiled
at Newton-Wellesley |
| A shining fleet of new smart infusion
pumps at Newton-Wellesley hospital is helping win the patient
safety battle in Massachusetts. Recently unveiled, these machines
were carefully selected after a year-long search for the safest,
highest quality product, and will now be used to help administer
intravenous medications. |
| Brigham
And Women’s Makes
Leaps In Patient Safety With Barcoding System |
| It’s amazing to think in
this day and age how something so seemingly low-tech can help
save lives, but here in Massachusetts, one hospital’s
focus on patient safety led to the development of a system
that’s as quick and easy as scanning groceries at the
supermarket. |
| Lahey Brings Seasoned Nurses
Back With Program |
| The idea for a nurse re-entry
program at Lahey Clinic came together for CNO Kathleen
Jose during a job fair after 9-11 when she met many
nurses who were interested in going back to work out of a sense
of civic duty but, having been out of the workforce for a while,
were finding it difficult to do so. |
| Emerson To Gain Quality, Confidence
With Million-Dollar Gift |
| Emerson Hospital was given an
overwhelming boost of confidence recently as a regional provider
of advanced, high quality care by a $1 million gift to the
hospital that will support its new surgical facility. |
| MHA Members Named Champions |
| Two of the Massachusetts Hospital
Association members are being featured as Champions of Change
as part of a national media campaign called Remaking American
Medicine: Health Care for the 21st Century. |
| The Patients First Report |
| WBZ Radio (1030 AM) will be running
a series of "Patients First Reports" throughout
February and March. The 60-second spots focus on
the high-quality, safe patient care our hospitals provide. To
listen to mp3 versions of the ads, click the links below. |
| Baystate’s
Forgivable Loan Program |
| With 9,200 employees and growing,
Baystate Health is the largest employer in Western Massachusetts.
As a key member of the health system, Baystate Medical Center
is the region’s academic medical center and one of only
five Magnet Hospitals in the state. |
| Knight at Night |
| He doesn’t wear a white
coat and stethoscope, but he does push a cart in a hospital
corridor in the wee hours. He is intensely interested in employee
and patient well-being, and year round, he’s a beacon
for the sleep-starved working the red-eye rotation. |
