Mod3-110 Key term

Culture of safety

A commitment to safety that permeates all levels of an organization, from frontline personnel to executive management.

Alarm fatigue

A decrease in attentiveness and sensitivity to the daily cacophony of bells, beeps, and tones from medical devices that overwhelms medical personnel with information and desensitizes them to the alarms themselves.

Health Insurance portability and accountability act (HIPAA)

A federal law that establishes the rights, protections, and other standards of care for working people with preexisting medical conditions.

Vehicle transmission

A form of indirect contract transmission that involves transfer of an infectious agent through a contaminated intermediate object.

Rapid response team

A group of clinicians with critical care expertise who quickly respond to the patient's bedside in the event that the patient develops a life-threatening condition.

Standard precautions

A group of infection prevention practices that apply to all patients regardless of suspected or confirmed infection status in any setting where healthcare services are provided.

Latent error

A human error that is likely to be made due to systems or routines developed in such a way that humans are disposed to making these errors.

Electronic medical record (EMR)

A medical record in digital format. In health informatics, an EMR is considered by some to be one of several types of electronic health records (EHRs). But in general usage EMR and EHR are synonymous.

I-Pass

A mnemonic developed as a handoff that acts as a checklist for information to include in the handoff. I: Illness severity P: Patient summary (the standard clinical summary) A: Action list for the next team S: Situation awareness / contingency plans S: Synthesis - a chance for a read-back of the information by the provider being briefed.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP)

A new or progressive and persistent radiographic abnormality developing in a patient on mechanical ventilation, who also demonstrates one or more systemic signs (fever, leukopenia or leukocytosis, or altered mental status in those older than 70 years of age) and selected pulmonary criteria (ex. change in respiratory secretions, new onset of cough, dyspnea, crackles, bronchial breath sounds, or worsening oxygenation).

Pasteurization

A process for killing or reducing the number of pathogens and organisms other than bacterial spores.

Disinfection

A process that eliminates all pathogenic microorganisms except bacterial spores.

Universal protocal

A protocol developed to prevent wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and/or wrong person surgery. The three principal components are conducting a preprocedure verification process, marking the procedure site, and performing a time-out before the procedure.

Equipment surveillance

A quality assurance program in which cultures of equipment are processed to ensure that high-level disinfection of sterilization is effective.

National Patient safety goals

A series of specific actions that accredited organizations are required to take to prevent medical errors such as miscommunication among caregivers, unsafe use of infusion pumps, and medication errors.

Root cause analysis (RCA)

A structured process for identifying the causal or contributing factors underlying adverse events or other critical incidents.

Situation, background, assessment, recommendation (SBAR)

A technique that provides a framework for communication between members of the healthcare team about a patient's condition.

Ventilator-Associated Events (VAE)

A term that groups all the conditions that result in a significant and sustained deterioration in oxygenation, defined as a greater than 0.2 increase in the daily minimum FIO2 or an increase of at least 3 cm H2O in the daily minimum PEEP to maintain oxygenation. It entails both infectious and noninfectious conditions. VAEs are categorized into three tiers: Tier 1 - ventilator-associated condition (VAC); Tier 2 - infection-related ventilator-associated complication (IVAC); and Tier 3 - probable or possible ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).

Handoff

A transfer of responsibility for a patient from one caregiver to another. The goal of a handoff is to provide timely, accurate information about a patient's care plan, treatment, current condition, and any recent or anticipated changes.

Electronic signature

A unique code or password that verifies the individual making the entry and creates an individual signature on the record, then stores it on magnetic, optical, or some other computer storage media. This is a legally recognized electronic means of signing that indicates that a person adopts the contents of an electronic message.

Airborne precautions

Actions taken to prevent the transmission of infectious agents over a long distance when those pathogens are suspended in the air.

Contact precautions

Actions taken to prevent transmission of infectious agents that are spread by direct or indirect contact with a patient or the patient's environment.

Droplet precautions

Actions taken to prevent transmission of pathogens spread through close respiratory or mucous membrane contact with respiratory secretions.

Sentinel Event

An adverse event in which death or serious harm to a patient has occurred; usually an event that is not expected or acceptable - for example, an accidental patient - ventilator disconnect.

Active error

An error that occurs at the point of contact between a human and some aspect of a larger system (ex. a human-machine interface). Such errors are generally readily apparent (ex. pushing an incorrect button, ignoring a warning light) and almost always involve someone at the front line.

Electronic health record

An individual patient's medical record in digital format. Electronic health record systems coordinate the storage and retrieval of individual records with the aid of computers.

Healthcare-associated infection (HAI)

An infection associated with the delivery of health care in any setting.

Incident report

An occurrence report filed for an untoward incident in a healthcare system, such as administration of an incorrect medication; also called a safety report.

High-reliability organization (HRO)

An organization or system that operates in hazardous conditions but has fewer than its fair share of adverse events. The features of high-reliability organizations include a preoccupation with failure; a commitment to resilience; sensitivity to operations; and a culture of safety, in which individuals feel comfortable drawing attention to potential hazards or actual failures without fear of censure from management.

Sterilization

Equipment-processing modality that involves the complete killing of all organisms, it requires adequate heat and time. This process destroys or eliminates all forms of microbial life.

Hand hygiene

Hand washing with soap and water for 15 to 20 seconds or using alcohol-based gels, foams, or rubs that do not require water

Bactericidal

Pertaining to a method of killing bacteria.

Nosocomial

Pertaining to an infection that is acquired in a hospital or nursing home.

Infection control

Policies and procedures to minimize the risk of spreading infections.

Personal Protective equipment (PPE)

Protective clothing (gowns), gloves, goggles, or other garments or devices used alone or in combination to protect mucous membranes, airways, skin, and clothing from coming in contact with infectious agents.

Cleaning

Removal of visible soil from surfaces of equipment.

Confidentiality

The legally protected right afforded to (and duty required of) specifically designated health care professionals not to disclose information discerned or communicated during consultation with a patient, except in cases of suspected abuse, commission of a crime, or threat of harm to self or others

Cough etiquette

The procedure whereby one covers the nose and mouth when coughing/sneezing, uses tissues to contain respiratory secretions and disposes of those tissues in the nearest receptacle after use, and performs hand hygiene after having contact with respiratory secretions or contaminated objects.

Medical record medication reconciliation

The process of avoiding inadvertent inconsistencies across transitions in care by reviewing the patient's complete medication regimen at the time of admission, transfer and discharge and comparing it with the regimen being considered for the new setting of care.

Antisepsis

The use of chemical agents to inhibit microbial growth.