7 Stories You Need: Risky Nurse/Patient Ratios, New Opioid Policies, Ethics of Drug Rationing

We know you’re busy, but we don’t want you to miss important healthcare quality and patient safety news. Here’s a roundup of stories you may have missed but need to take a look at before calling it a week. (Sign up on the right if you’d like these news alerts delivered to you.)

1. Short-staffing of nurses hikes patient mortality by 20 percent
   Access a new study published in the British Medical Journal that indicates a patient is at a much higher risk of dying when his or her nurse is responsible for more than six patients at a time.
2. Nurse Renewal Rooms Benefit Patients, Too
   Consider why the traditional ‘rub some dirt on it and get back into the game’ workplace mentality might not be the best mindset for nurses or their patients.
3. FDA Unveils Sweeping Changes to Opioid Policies
   Now that the number of deaths due to opioid overdose has surpassed fatalities caused by motor vehicle accidents, the United States Food and Drug Administration has released a plan based on policies that aim to reverse this devastating epidemic. Read a summary here and access the FDA’s special report just published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
4. NPSF Invites Nation to Sign Pledge to Stand United on Patient Safety
   With National Patient Safety Awareness Week just around the corner, the National Patient Safety Foundation is calling for healthcare professionals nationwide to sign an online pledge signifying their commitment to reading the foundation’s new Free from Harm report and discussing its findings with colleagues.
5. Time Remains to Administer AHRQ Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture
   Nursing home facilities that have utilized AHRQ’s Nursing Home Survey on Patient Safety Culture will be able to submit data to the Comparative Database April 1-21, 2016. Collected data will be used to compile theNursing Home Comparative Database Report which will include average scores and percentiles for survey items and composites.
6. How Hospitals Are Changing to Become Safer
   Writing for The New York Times ‘Fixes’ column, author, David Bornstein looks at how coordinated care efforts, bundled protocols, technology and culture change are helping hospitals combat prevalent patient safety issues including: hospital-acquired infections, pressure ulcers, sepsis and falls.
7. Drug Shortages Forcing Hard Decisions on Rationing Treatments
   Most Americans are unaware of a frightening reality that has become a new normal within the nation’s healthcare industry. Read about the ethical questions being raised as hospitals deal with shortages of more than 150 commonly used medications including essential cancer drugs, anesthetics, painkillers and antibiotics.