Doctors Learn How To Talk To Patients About Dying
Doctors can be so focused on trying to fix each ailment that “no one is addressing the big picture.”
Discharge Disaster? Shoeless Patient Abandoned Out In The Cold and Dark
While there are a lot of what-ifs about the incident, “we technically don’t know what happened during the encounter,” notes Frank Ruelas, MBA, a patient safety professional and HIPAA consultant who founded HIPAA College in Arizona. “However, there is enough information for us to consider asking questions on how we may have managed this patient if she had presented at our respective ED within our respective hospitals.”
A Push To Get Older Adults In Shape For Surgery
Researchers reported that older adults who went through the POSH program before major abdominal operations spent less time in the hospital (four days versus six days for a control group), were less likely to return to the hospital in the next 30 days, and were more likely to return home without the need for home health care. They also had slightly fewer complications.
EMR ‘Nudging’ Could Curtail Opioid Prescribing
Emergency Departments prescribe fewer opioid pills to their patients when the EMR default setting was set to 10 tablets.
Rights and Restraints: The Need For Good Restraint and Seclusion Policies
The misuse of restraints has led to death by asphyxiation, as well as complications such as nerve injuries, incontinence, pneumonia, and pressure ulcers. But despite the dangers, CMS says it’s documented over 1,400 related deficiencies between 2011 and 2015.
The Tale of The Flying Gurney, and Other Events That Should Never Happen, But Still Do
While hospitals do their best to limit the number of so-called “never events” that happen to their patients, recent events show that there is still work to be done.
In patient safety circles, “never events” are mistakes that should simply never happen—seemingly commonsense mistakes such as a surgeon accidentally leaving a scalpel inside a patient, a newborn infant given to the wrong parents, or any death of a patient due to the gross negligence of a caregiver.
Reduce Nurse Stress and Reduce Medical Errors
Stress manifests among nurses in various forms and can affect patient outcomes. Fortunately, leaders can implement solutions to help reduce this pervasive problem.
How Hospitals Are Failing Black Mothers
Researchers have found that women who deliver at these so-called “black-serving” hospitals are more likely to have serious complications — from infections to birth-related embolisms to emergency hysterectomies — than mothers who deliver at institutions that serve fewer black women.
Doing More Harm Than Good? Epidemic of Screening Burdens Nation’s Older Patients
“In patients well into their 80s, with other chronic conditions, it’s highly unlikely that they will receive any benefit from screening,” says Dr. Cary Gross.
In Era of Increased Competition, Hospitals Fret Over Ratings
Hospitals take their ratings seriously, despite hospital industry experts’ skepticism about their scientific methodology and studies showing that scores may not have a huge influence on patient behavior.