The Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality (KIPSQ) will host its summer deep dive and safe table meeting on July 16 at Baptist Health Lexington. The event will also include a legal update for KIPSQ members.

ECRI Institute PSO’s Deep DiveTM: Meeting Patients’ Behavioral Health Needs in Acute Care explores how hospitals can meet patients’ behavioral health needs in non-psychiatric areas of the hospital. Failing to meet patients’ behavioral health needs has implications for patient safety, quality of care, occupational health, patient and staff satisfaction, security and risk management, legal and regulatory compliance, public relations and the organization’s operations and finances. In acute care settings, leaders should analyze how well the hospital performs in meeting patients’ behavioral health...

The KIPSQ Fall Forum, October 16 in Louisville, will gather both Patient Safety Organization (PSO) members and non-PSO members to discuss the Opioid Crisis. Presentations will encompass an intensive study conducted by ECRI Institute regarding Opioid use in acute care, a diversion prevention assessment tool and the legalities surrounding this issue.

Health care attorneys, risk management professionals, patient safety officers, quality leaders, nurse leaders, clinical leaders, CEOs, senior executives and administrative leaders are all encouraged to attend. CEUs will be available.

View the Forum Brochure for agenda details. Online registration is available for your convenience.

If you have any questions, please contact...

KHA's patient safety organization (PSO), the Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality (KIPSQ) will host a free Summer Forum for all Kentucky hospitals on July 24 in Lexington.

The KIPSQ Summer Forum will gather both PSO members and non-PSO members to discuss and understand the advantages of membership, data collection, common format reporting and mapping from a risk management system to the PSO. Presentations will encompass regulations, state peer review and case law followed by a panel discussion featuring hospitals who are actively reporting to the PSO.

CEOs, health care attorneys, risk management professionals, patient safety officers, quality leaders, nurse leaders, clinical leaders, senior executives and administrative leaders are all encouraged to attend.

View the brochure for more details. Online registration...

KIPSQ members making care safer in KY by discussing Patient Identification Errors at the PSO's Safe Table Event on October 10.

The KIPSQ Safe Table Meeting scheduled for tomorrow, January 21, in Madisonville has been cancelled. There is no rescheduled date at this time. If you have questions, contact Sharon Perkins (sperkins@kyha.com) at KHA. For more information on upcoming Safe Table Meetings, view the brochure and registration information on the KIPSQ website at http://www.kipsq.org/Portals/26/EventBrochures/SafeTableMeetings.pdf.

KIPSQ will conduct a Safe Table topic every month in three different locations thoughout the state for members of the PSO. Participants will:

Generate candid discussion and share organizational experiences on patient safety and quality issues Exchange information about bet practices relative to patient safety Encourage coordinated/collaborative efforts and new partnerships Network and communicate A brochure and registration information are available on the KIPSQ website at http://www.kipsq.org/Portals/26/EventBrochures/SafeTableMeetings.pdf.

For more information on the benefits of your facility joining KIPSQ, visit www.kipsq.org or contact Nancy Galvagni (ngalvagni@kyha.com)  or Sharon Perkins (sperkins@kyha.com)...

On August 21, the Kentucky Supreme Court issued an Opinion and Order on the case of Phillip Tibbs, MD, et al. v. Hon. Kimberly N. Bunnell.

The underlying action was a medical negligence and wrongful death action involving a 64-year-old female, Luvetta Goff, who underwent elective spinal surgery at University of Kentucky Hospital on January 26, 2011. She died at the end of the procedure due to an unspecified bleeding complication and her Estate brought an action against three surgeons, Drs. Phillip Tibbs, Joel Norman and Barrett Brown. During discovery, Plaintiff sought to obtain a copy of a post-incident report that was entered into a Patient Safety Net System, a real time web-based event reporting system. The reporting system was set up as part of UK HealthCare’s Patient Safety System and the event report was provided to the patient safety organization (PSO) to which  UK HealthCare belonged, University Health System Consortium.

A Motion for a Protective Order filed by the University based on the...

The Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality (KIPSQ), KHA's patient safety organization (PSO), will host its Annual Membership Meeting on June 25. This meeting is open only to members of KIPSQ.

To register or for more information, please contact Sharon Perkins at KHA (502-426-6220 or 800-945-4542 or via e-mail at sperkins@kyha.com). 

The Connecticut Hospital Association shared the following incident with the Kentucky Institute for Patient Safety and Quality (KIPSQ), KHA’s Patient Safety Organization, for distribution to its members in the hopes that it will prevent a harm event in hospitals.

On May 16, Griffin Hospital in Derby, Connecticut, announced that during a daily safety huddle (begun as part of the hospital’s participation in their statewide high reliability collaborative), it had identified an issue regarding the use of insulin pens — devices intended to make insulin injections more efficient and accurate. They consist of a cartridge and needles. While needles were never reused, a few staff used the cartridges for more than one patient. Despite changing the needles, there is still slight risk of blood contamination of the pen reservoir or cartridge, which could result in transmission of blood-borne pathogens from the previous patient.

Griffin has used the insulin pens for several years and has identified approximately...

KHA has received a grant from the Anthem Foundation to support the “Improving Patient Safety for Mom and Baby” initiative. The project kicks off March 28 with a webinar at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

KHA encourages all Kentucky birthing hospitals to participate in this worthwhile project. Please see the commitment form, due April 15, for more details.If you need more time, please contact one of the staff members below as soon as possible.

Kentucky hospitals that offer birthing services already strive to provide the best and safest care for moms and babies, and want Kentucky to show the best possible outcomes, both short term and long term. Unfortunately the commonwealth still has lower rankings in several areas:

Kentucky's most recent six-month rate of Early Elective Deliveries is 10.9 percent, which is still significantly higher than...