4 Stories You Need: Overlapping Surgeries, Handshake-Free Zones, Good Catch Awards

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. (Subscribe today if you’d like these news alerts delivered to you.)

1. Virginia Mason to inform patients about overlapping surgeries
   Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center will soon begin including a one-page form in its consent-for-surgery process to make patients aware of the chances of overlapping procedures. The Seattle Times
2. Handshake-Free Zone: Keep Those Hands — And Germs — To Yourself In The Hospital
   According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 25 patients across the United States contracts a hospital-acquired infection each day. While most hospitals promote better hand hygiene protocols in combating these outbreaks, UCLA has opted to turn its focus toward elimination of a time-honored greeting.Kaiser Health News
3. Hospitals Now Tap Lawyers To Fulfill Patients’ Legal Needs
   Understanding that legal issues often develop into problems that result in poor medical outcomes, more hospitals are including attorneys in the teams of professionals made available to assist patients. Kaiser Health News
4. ADNPSO Presents Inaugural Good Catch Awards to Arkansas Clinicians
   American Data Network Patient Safety Organization (ADNPSO) named the first two recipients of the Good Catch Award, being presented quarterly this year to outstanding Arkansas clinicians participating in ADNPSO’s statewide near miss campaign. ADN News Blog