Medical Error Prevention: Patient Safety (Online Course)

(based on 4344 customer ratings)

Authors: Catherine Otto, PhD, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM; Garland E. Pendergraph, PhD, JD, MLS(ASCP)SM, HCLD/CC(ABB)
Reviewer: Barbara Cebulski, MS, MLS(ASCP)

Medical Error Prevention is a comprehensive course that includes potential causes of medical errors in the clinical laboratory, important legislation and definitions, and steps laboratorians can take to reduce the impact of medical errors in their workplace. This course is an ideal part of an effective medical error reduction program and is appropriate for both experienced and novice laboratorians.

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Continuing Education Credits

Objectives

  • List and describe the six aims of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to improve health care quality.
  • Describe the IOM aims within the context of quality clinical laboratory services.
  • Define "total testing process" and recognize problems (errors) that could occur in each phase of the total testing process.
  • Identify outcomes of patient safety errors with respect to clinical laboratory services.
  • Discuss patient safety goals.

Customer Ratings

(based on 4344 customer ratings)

Course Outline

  • Six aims of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to improve health care quality.
      • State of Health Care Quality
      • Six Domains of Health Care Quality as Defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM)
      • Improving Effectiveness
      • Patient-Centered Care and Timeliness
      • Preventing Medical Errors Through Patient Involvement
      • Efficiency and Equity
      • Which of the following are included in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) aims to improve the quality of health care in the United States?Health care sys...
  • IOM aims within the context of quality clinical laboratory services.
      • Clinical Laboratory Services and Safety
      • How might patient harm result from each of these problems related to clinical laboratory services? Consider your answer and then click on the defined ...
      • Clinical Laboratory Services and Effectiveness
      • Clinical Laboratory Services and Patient-Centered Care
      • Clinical Laboratory Services and Timeliness
      • Clinical Laboratory Services and Efficiency
      • Clinical Laboratory Services and Equity
      • Which of the following best defines "effective clinical laboratory services"?
  • Recognizing problems (errors) that could occur in each phase of the total testing process
      • Medical Errors
      • Factors that Contribute to Medical Errors
      • Total Testing Process
      • Safe Preanalytic Component of Total Testing Process
      • Safe Analytic Component of Total Testing Process
      • Safe Postanalytic Component of Total Testing Process
      • Patient-Centered Preanalytic Component of Total Testing Process
      • Patient-Centered Analytic Component of Total Testing Process
      • Patient-Centered Postanalytic Component of Total Testing Process
      • Timely: Reduce Wait Times and Harmful Delays
      • Timely: Reduce Waits and Harmful Delays, continued
      • Identify the phase of the total testing process in which each of these errors occurs.
  • Outcomes of patient safety errors with respect to clinical laboratory services.
      • Outcomes of Laboratory Services
      • Reporting of Errors
      • Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
      • Root Cause Analysis (RCA), continued
      • RCA Example
      • Failure Mode and Effect Analysis
      • A patient event occurs that results in a "near miss" (an event that was averted, but may have resulted in death or serious injury). The error was caug...
  • Sources of data to identify errors and patient outcomes
      • Monitoring Laboratory Processes to Prevent Medical Errors
      • Data Sources to Identify Errors
      • Which of these sources may be useful for identifying patient safety problems?
  • Patient Safety Goals
      • The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals 2016 for Clinical Laboratories
      • National Patient Safety Goal: Identify Patients Correctly
      • Which of the following is NOT an acceptable patient identifier to use prior to performing venipuncture procedures?
      • National Patient Safety Goal: Improve Staff Communication
      • National Patient Safety Goal: Prevent Infection Through Hand Hygiene
  • References
      • References

Additional Information

Level of instruction: Intermediate
 
Intended audience: Medical laboratory professionals
 
Author information:
Catherine Otto, PhD, MBA, MLS(ASCP)CM is Dean of Health Occupations, Physical Education and Business at Shoreline Community College in Washington. She previously taught hematology, immunology, management and patient outcomes courses in the Clinical Laboratory Science programs at Oregon Health and Science University-Oregon Institute of Technology in Portland, Oregon and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include: patient safety, evaluation of laboratory quality and test utilization. Dr. Otto earned her doctorate in Law, Policy and Society, with a concentration in Health Policy at Northeastern University.
 
Garland E. Pendergraph, PhD, JD, MLS(ASCP)SM, HCLD/CC(ABB) is Laboratory Director & Director of Laboratory Operations, Quest Diagnostics-Valdosta RRL. Dr. Pendergraph is the laboratory director for Quest Diagnostics in Valdosta, GA and Miller County Hospital in Colquitt, GA. Dr. Pendergraph received his MSPH from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, his PhD in medical parasitology and mycology from the University of  North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his law degree with a concentration in health care law from Concord Law School, Kaplan University. He also did a Fellowship in Tropical Medicine at Louisiana State University School of Medicine. He is the author of a textbook in phlebotomy, a number of scientific articles, plus internet training programs. Dr. Pendergraph serves on the advisory committee for medical technology program at Thomas University. He is licensed as a laboratory director in the States of Georgia and Florida.
 
Reviewer Information: Barbara Cebulski, MS, MLS(ASCP) has over 40 years of experience in the medical laboratory profession as a technologist, section supervisor, and laboratory manager. She was an Inspection and Technical Specialist for nine years with the College of American Pathologists in the Laboratory Accreditation Program and, until her retirement in 2015, was Program Director for MediaLab, Inc. Barbara holds a Masters in Instructional Technology from Georgia State University.

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IOM aims