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The risk of giving advice to patients by phone should be well known to risk managers, and most have educated staff about what not to say to patients with questions. Add in the automated answering systems that urge patients to call 911 for emergencies, and you should be well covered in this area, right? Not necessarily.
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Citing serious concerns about needle safety at Connecticuts largest hospital, a union representing hospital service workers has filed a formal complaint with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in Washington, DC.
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The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in Huntington Valley, PA, has issued a special alert about lookalike packaging of two drugs that can lead to serious adverse events.
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Question: Ive heard that the final Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act states that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will not sanction hospitals for inappropriate transfers during a national emergency if the hospital is the area affected by the emergency. Does a large-scale disaster in our community, such as an airliner crash, qualify?
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A woman having an asthma attack presented at the emergency department. After she was hospitalized for three days, her daughter came to visit and found her non-responsive and blue. The patient was resuscitated; however, she was left brain damaged. The patients daughter brought suit against the hospital and attending physician. The jury returned a $5 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff.
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A patient alleged that an equipment technician sexually assaulted her. After reporting the situation to several nurses, the patient was given medication to calm her, and she was discharged quickly thereafter. A Texas jury awarded the patient $300,000 based on the hospitals failure to provide treatment.
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All patients who present to a health care setting with fever and respiratory symptoms should be managed according to the CDCs recommendations for respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette and questioned regarding their recent travel history.
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Both clinical disease and sputum colonization due to Mycobacterium avium complex were traced to the potable water system of a large public hospital. There are no established methods for eradicating these organisms from potable water.
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While much attention has been paid to new hospital infection control standards for 2005, the Joint Commission also is adopting similar standards in long-term care facilities. A pre-publication edition of the new standards for long-term care, which will be effective Jan. 1, 2005, call for the following key provisions.
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Human metapneumovirus was the likely cause of 12% of all lower respiratory tract illnesses among a population of 2009 children studied from 1976 to 2001 presenting with acute respiratory symptoms. Clinical manifestations of metapneumovirus infection were bronchiolitis (59%), croup (18%), pneumonia (8%), and exacerbation of asthma (14%).
