Joint Commission Resources (JCR), an affiliate of the Joint Commission, has launched a new consulting service that will provide an objective evaluation of technology with a patient safety focus.

The new service aims to support patient safety as JCR assists both hospitals and technology vendors in implementing technology through the integration of patient safety, informatics and clinical care expertise, according to the commission.

The consulting service was launched at a turning point for health IT in the U.S. when many healthcare organizations and doctors are taking advantage of nearly $30 billion in federal stimulus funding to convert from paper records to EMR systems.

Heart alarm was off; device issues spotlight a growing national problem

By Liz Kowalczyk Globe Staff / February 21, 2010

A Massachusetts General Hospital patient died last month after the alarm on a heart monitor was inadvertently left off, delaying the response of nurses and doctors to the patient’s medical crisis.

Hospital administrators said they immediately began an investigation, which led them to inspect and disable the off switch on alarms on all 1,100 of Mass. General’s heart monitors within a day of the death. The hospital also has temporarily assigned a nurse in each unit to specifically listen for alarms, out of concern that sometimes even functioning alarms can’t be heard over the din of a busy ward.