href="http://www.npsf.org/events-forums/patient-safety-awareness-week/"

target="_blank">

style="margin: 3px 5px;" title="BeAware-graphic-180px-150x150"

src="http://www.thetibcoblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/BeAware-graphic-180px-150x150.gif"

alt="Patient Safety Week" width="150" height="150"

/>With National

Patient Safety Awareness Week coming to a close, we

thought we would give some attention to this important

topic.

In following this week's articles, blog

posts and tweets, much of the discussion about patient safety has

centered on the treatment a patient receives during a procedure

or hospital stay, so we asked Dr. Gary Ferguson, one of TIBCO's

Chief Healthcare Strategists, for href="http://www.thetibcoblog.com/2012/03/09/are-zero-accidents-our-goal/">his

perspective. In his words he feels strongly that: "Many

of these approaches are treating the symptoms, and not the

cause."

This is a good point. Take for example

the case of hospital readmissions. It's well known that CMS will

begin penalizing hospitals if their readmission rate exceeds

standards.

So what should caregivers be focused on in

order to achieve patient safety, and how does technology fit into

the overall

goals?

Operationalize Data to

Avoid Problems: The factors

that lead to readmission often occur days or weeks before the

patient walks (or is wheeled) back through the hospital doors.

The problem is the right information never gets to the right

person who can take action to prevent it.

href="http://www.dartmouthatlas.org/downloads/press/Post_Acute_Care_Release_092811.pdf"

target="_blank">A Dartmouth Atlas Project found that only 42.9

percent of patients visited their doctor within two weeks of

hospital discharge. While this is a common data point

in predicting a readmission, a single factor may not be enough to

warrant action. But by correlating multiple data streams and

events, a risk profile can be calculated for each patient, which

triggers alerts for a physician or nurse to take

action.

According to Dr. Ferguson, "Healthcare

is the epitome of a Big Data problem. Information is gathered

about nearly every aspect of a patient's experience, but if it

just goes into a database for analysis after-the-fact, it's

worthless. By getting the href="http://www.spotfire.tibco.com/">right

information to the right person who can take action

immediately, we can change outcomes."

Use Social Media: Social

media isn't just for "socializing." In a secure, patient-centric

social media

environment, the care management team can be alerted of risks

immediately through their mobile devices, and collaborate in real

time to resolve the situation.

"When extended

to the patient's family as well, the expanded support network can

be involved in post-discharge care, making sure the prescriptions

are filled and appointments are kept," adds Dr.

Ferguson.

Integrate Human

Processes: The majority of the work in healthcare

remains in the hands of human beings and won't be href="http://www.nimbuspartners.com/industries/healthcare">automated

in the foreseeable future.

"One of the most

effective ways to ensure patient safety is to standardize and

improve care pathways to ensure that the best possible treatment

is shared knowledge and consistently applied. Broken handoffs,

gaps and duplications can only be eliminated when we manage the

human work in a systematic way that is continually improved and

reinforced.

"It's only by addressing all

aspects of the patient experience that an environment of patient

safety can truly be achieved," Dr. Ferguson concludes.