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A new Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert warns that non-psychiatric patients are committing suicide in emergency departments and medical/surgical inpatient units. The alert urges greater attention to the risk of suicide for these patients and recommends education for caregivers about warning signs that may indicate when patients in general hospital units are contemplating harming themselves.
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A former radiology technician accused of improperly entering negative results on mammograms at Perry (GA) Hospital has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Legal observers say the hospital is facing a storm of lawsuits over the alleged fakery.
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Most incidents of intimidation of risk managers emanate from a lack of understanding of the role of the risk manager in the hospital or health system, poor communication, and an absence of clarity regarding chain of command, says Patrick Hurd, JD, senior counsel and leader of the Healthcare Industry Group with the law firm of LeClair Ryan in Norfolk, VA.
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Risk managers continue to report that they experience harassment and retaliation for doing their jobs, with health care executives making them the scapegoat for lapses in policy and quality by the health care institution.
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Errors involving insulin were commonly reported to Pennsylvania's Patient Safety Authority in 2010, with 52% of 2695 events leading to a patient possibly having received the wrong dose or no dose, and 49 resulting in harm to the patient.
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After a child was diagnosed with acute appendicitis at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in St. Louis, MO, the ED physician ordered antibiotics and dosed the patient according to the weight that was in her chart.
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A mother rushes into your ED and states that her child is having an asthma attack, but the child seems to be breathing normally.
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An 85-year-old man who reports vomiting and diarrhea after an injury, and also happens to be on beta blockers, might have a blood pressure of 120/70 and heart rate of 82 and "look absolutely normal, even though in reality he is hypotensive and tachycardic, and he is in shock," says Justin Milici, RN, MSN, CEN, CPEN, CFRN, CCRN, TNS, education specialist for the ED at Methodist Dallas Medical Center.
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"More and more" preteen and adolescent patients are coming to the Emergency Department Trauma Center at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin in Milwaukee with a variety of psychosocial needs, and many have underlying medical conditions as well, says Carrie L. Baumann, RN, BSN, patient care supervisor.
