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Biomedical subjects

Gerald R Goodman

Publications and source records attributed to Gerald R Goodman.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

A fragmented patient safety concept: the structure and culture of safety management in healthcare.

Safety in healthcare organizations is often an ownerless process with responsibility falling under a myriad of departments that individually are coordinating initiatives to improve aspects of safety. In contrast, other high-hazard industries seek to institutionalize safety management as a key characteristic of organizational culture. Healthcare seeks to model its approach to patient safety on other high-hazard industry models, but without an understanding of the impact of creating a uniform approach to safety management, healthcare organizations will not implement a similar organization-wide safety culture.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2003

The occupation of healthcare management: relating core competencies to growth as a distinct profession.

There are many questions regarding the education of the healthcare manager. Some would argue that rather than focus on specific issues of core competencies and licensing, the discussion should be directed toward the successful development of healthcare management as a distinct profession. Two elements in defining a profession, education and legal restraints, are particularly relevant to healthcare management. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for healthcare management to achieve recognition as a distinct profession in the traditional sense. There is no unique body of knowledge on which the profession is based, and no mechanism for credentialing to restrict practice. The organizational framework, however, does exist to better position the MHA-prepared graduate as the preferred candidate to manage healthcare organizations. A professional society needs to be identified as the representative society for the generalist healthcare manager. Core competencies should articulate the integration of academics and practice preparation. To accomplish the latter, academic accreditation requirements relating to faculty credentials should encourage practice-based credentials in addition to the current exclusive focus on academic credentials.

Credentialing↗
PubMed2002

Medical device error.

This article discusses principal concepts for the analysis, classification, and reporting of problems involving medical device technology. We define a medical device in regulatory terminology and define and discuss concepts and terminology used to distinguish the causes and sources of medical device problems. Database classification systems for medical device failure tracking are presented, as are sources of information on medical device failures. The importance of near-accident reporting is discussed to alert users that reported medical device errors are typically limited to those that have caused an injury or death. This can represent only a fraction of the true number of device problems. This article concludes with a summary of the most frequently reported medical device failures by technology type, clinical application, and clinical setting.

Databases, Factual↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Outcomes measurement in pain management: issues of disease complexity and uncertain outcomes.

Pain is a complex disease process. Pain management requires an interdisciplinary rather than a multidisciplinary clinical intervention, interdisciplinary because the factors that may affect pain intensity and duration occur simultaneously. A particular problem exits when measuring outcomes from chronic diseases, disorders, and impairments because neither a cure nor death is a likely outcome. The clinical and psychosocial determinates of pain complicate the assessment of level of pain and the measurement of pain management outcomes. The major obstacle to assessing change from a pain intervention is the lack of a gold standard. Because we have no gold standard for better functional health, our evaluation of the responsiveness of health status measures regarding pain management will continue to be plagued with the question "responsive to what"?

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A fragmented patient safety concept: the structure and culture of safety management in health care.

The uniform and visible commitment to safety management is a cultural and structural change that health care organizations have not typically attempted. Committee structures are just one example of how culture drives structure in managing health care safety. The question is: "Are we interested in making nonpatient safety programs as well understood and as culturally significant as patient safety programs?" Models exist to institutionalize safety management in health care. We need only look to the JCAHO or OSHA and other high-hazard industry models for examples of safety management. Change requires a focus on safety, not occupational safety or patient safety, but just safety. In health care, safety would be a key characteristic of organizational culture. The organizational expectation is then that all employees will work safely and practice safety. Employees will apply safe practices when handling chemicals, in lifting, and when giving medications. Only when safety imbues the work and decisions of each employee in this way will the highest level of safety be attained.

Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice↗
PubMedDate not supplied

How can nurses help patients work more effectively with nurses to improve the safety of patient care?

The literature seems quite clear that patients still regard the nurse as the principal link between the technical and interpersonal aspects of their care. The often-discussed medical error crisis tends to create in the patient mistrust of all care providers. The health care industry is driving towards a system that requires patients to be self-reliant in managing their care, without allowing for factual limitations in patient capability, ability, and interest in such an enterprise. Unfortunately for the overworked, understaffed nurse, patients still look to them to provide quality compassionate care without the patient having to police them. Health care providers have been mandated to provide assessment and intervention for pain management. It was mandated because we as health care professionals failed to perform this vital function in a consistent, quality manner. It did add to the workload of the nurse. However, if done properly, it is a valuable communication tool for the nurse and the patient to comfortably discuss pain and its management--the interpersonal part of care.

Humans↗