Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

An event which meets one or more criteria, such as the following; (1) a patient is injured, whether or not the hospital may be liable; (2) the admission was the result of an adverse result of outpatient care; (3) the patient was readmitted because of complications or incomplete care in the previous admission; (4) there…

As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), an adverse drug event is an event that is “noxious and unintended and occurs at doses used in man for prophylaxis, diagnosis, therapy, or modification of physiologic functions.” ADE’s in a hospital may be detected not only by their reporting, but also by other events which may…

An agency of the U. S. Department of Defense established in the 1960s, staffed by computer programmers and electronics engineers, to redesign how computers were operated. They developed “interactive computing” to replace (for some purposes) the previous method in which punch cards provided input to the computer, and printouts on paper the output. These were…

A hospital official, usually not a physician, who is responsible for the processes of admission (hospital) and discharge of patients, and who is in charge of the admitting department.  

The hospital department which carries out the administrative tasks connected with admission, discharge, and transfer of patients.  

The individual responsible for carrying out policies established by the organization or agency for which he is employed. An administrator is a line official, that is, an employee with authority over others. When the authority is over the entire hospital, the individual is the administrator, and current usage is to call this person the “chief…

The process by which an administrative agency makes a decision. In the context of hospitals, an example would be the procedure for obtaining a certificate of need (CON). This would include a petition for the certificate, setting of a hearing date and notice to all interested parties, the hearing itself (which is normally less formal…

A hospital engineer who has administrative (planning or management) responsibility. Typically there is one person with this title, the highest rank among the engineers of the institution. Synonym(s): director of buildings and grounds, chief engineer, plant engineer.  

The federal agency charged by the Older Americans Act (OAA) with serving the 43 million senior citizens in the U.S. The AoA is a new Operating Division of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The head of this agency was recently elevated from Commissioner to Assistant Secretary, reflecting an increased concern by the…

A federal agency created on April 15,1991, under the authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The Assistant Secretary who heads this agency also serves as the Director of Child Support Enforcement at the federal level.