It is widely accepted in literature on patient safety that an open culture — one that seeks to understand the multiple reasons for error — is required to promote incident reporting and maximise learning for system improvement.

In August 1993, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals (LDHH) investigated reports of acute respiratory illness among residents of two nursing homes and workers on a dredging barge in southern Louisiana; influenza type A has been confirmed as the cause of these outbreaks. This report summarizes the investigations of the outbreaks.

OBJECTIVES to identify the rate of closure of nursing homes for older people, the types of homes closing and the reasons for closure. DESIGN mixed method study including a census and telephone survey of registration and inspection units and interviews with independent providers. PARTICIPANTS 81 of 96 health authority and joint registration and inspection unit managers in England completed t...

this study was initiated to assess the effectiveness of designating smoking rooms to control environmental tobacco smoke in nursing homes. of the 39 nursing homes located in toledo (a city in ohio, usa) included in the preliminary survey, 33 facilities (85%) allowed smoking, 14 facilities (36%) allowed indoor smoking, and 13 facilities (33%) provided a designated smoking area. three of these 13...

BACKGROUND Back pain is one of the most frequent complaints in the nursing profession. Thus, the 12-month prevalence of pain in the lumbar spine in nursing staff is as high as 76%. Only a few representative studies have assessed the prevalence rates of back pain and its risk factors among nursing staff in nursing homes in comparison to staff in home-based care facilities. The present study acco...

OBJECTIVE Nursing homes that are not meeting quality standards are cited for deficiencies. Before 1995, the only recourse for a nursing home was a formal appeal process, which is lengthy and costly. In 1995, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services instituted the Informal Dispute Resolution (IDR) process. This study presents for the first time national statistics about the IDR process and a...