June 2009

Cloud computing, or the storage of data on the Internet, is taking off at a rapid pace, with numerous start-ups and established entities vying for consumer attention and amassing considerable user bases very quickly.

In my 15 years of oncology/hematology nursing experience, I�ve seen many errors and near-errors. No one is exempt from making mistakes, regardless of their experience level, and even a seemingly simple oversight can be dangerous for patients.

Patient falls and falls with injury are serious preventable problems in hospitals and are among the measures employed as standard metrics of the quality of nursing care; they are included in both The National Quality Forum (NQF) National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Hospital Care: An Initial Performance Measure Set and The Institute for Healthcare Improvement�s National Patient Safety Goals. Injuries and death associated with patient falls while being cared for in a health care facility are classifi ed by the NQF as �serious reportable events�.