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The news from the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare is not good: No matter how much healthcare providers and regulatory bodies stress the need to avoid wrong-site surgery, this sentinel event still occurs about 40 times a week.
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Compliance officers have taken on increasingly important and visible roles in healthcare organizations, and that role can lead to ruffled feathers when that person and the risk manager disagree on their authority and responsibilities. The result, too often, is an internal spat that prevents either party from doing their jobs well and exposes the provider to liability.
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A 56-year-old man with complaints of impaired balance and light headedness presented to his local hospital. A resident and attending radiologist interpreted the man's CT scan and read the scan to show old lesions. A physician assistant at the hospital diagnosed the man with vertigo and discharged him with medication. As the symptoms became more severe, the man approached his primary care physician, who completed a more thorough workup. Ultimately, a brain biopsy revealed an intravascular lymphoma.
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Frequent news stories and headlines about the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights' (OCR) crackdown on covered entities that have reported data breaches or other privacy rule violations increase the importance of continually assessing compliance with privacy and security rules.
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In a lengthy intervention trial, antibiotic prophylaxis against recurrent urinary tract infections in premenopausal women was more effective than a cranberry extract; however, development of antibiotic resistance was significant.
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The term "reiki" (pronounced "ray-key") comes from two Japanese words, rei, meaning universal spirit, and ki, meaning life energy. Therapies based on this non-physical, vibrational life energy are known as biofield therapies, which include therapeutic touch and healing touch.
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Drowning is defined as asphyxia or suffocation from submersion/immersion in a liquid medium.
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Adding gabapentin to valacyclovir early in the treatment of acute herpes zoster may reduce the incidence of postherpetic neuralgia.
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The FDA has approved a second three-drug fixed combination for the treatment of HIV-1 infections. This combination contains two nucleoside analog HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors (emtricitabine and tenofovir) and a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI; rilpivirine).