Patient Safety

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) were announced at the recent National Patient Safety Foundation 5th Annual Congress in Washington, DC.

The PSIs tool uses secondary diagnosis codes to detect 26 types of adverse events and provides information on potential in-hospital complications and adverse events following surgeries, procedures, and childbirth. Hospital-level PSIs include pressure (decubitus) ulcers and postoperative wound dehiscence in abdominopelvic surgical patients. Area-level PSIs also include postoperative wound dehiscence in abdominopelvic surgical patients.

The PSIs, part of a major AHRQ program to improve the safety of patients in hospitals, outpatient care, and other medical settings, were developed after a comprehensive literature review analysis of ICD-9-CM codes, review by a clinician panel, implementation of risk adjustment, and empirical analyses. The tool can be downloaded free of charge from AHRQ's Web site; SAS or SPSS software, commercially available statistical programs, are required.

[black up pointing small triangle]Information:http://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov

Products

Collagen Matrix, Inc, Franklin Lakes, NJ, has received Food and Drug Administration clearance for Matrix Collagen Particles Wound Dressing, a safe, absorbent, microfibrillar particulate collagen matrix intended for the management of wounds with moderate to heavy exudate and the control of minor bleeding. These wounds include pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, diabetic ulcers, acute wounds (trauma or surgical wounds), and partial-thickness burns.

The Matrix Collagen Particles Wound Dressing is the first of a line of wound care products that Collagen Matrix is developing to provide cost-effective solutions to the problem of treating topical wounds, particularly chronic wounds that are difficult to manage with currently available products.

ActiPatch Therapy is a breakthrough product that reduces swelling and accelerates healing of surgical wounds and accidental injuries, according to its manufacturer, BioElectronics Corp, Frederick, MD.

ActiPatch Therapy uses small, wearable patches to deliver pulsed electromagnetic therapy directly to the site of a surgical wound or an accidental injury. To enhance healing of noninfected injuries, the therapeutic goal is to induce the tissue to rapidly pass the tissue-damaging phase of the inflammatory process and move to the tissue repair phase.

Several advantages to the patient include reduced edema, which reduces pain; organization of a new matrix formation, reducing scarring and enhancing tensile strength; and enhanced lymphatic flow, resulting in reduced bruising.

Check out the program for the Clinical Symposium on Advances in Skin & Wound Care

http://www.symposiumonwoundcare.com