Healthcare Risk Management – July 1, 2008
July 1, 2008
View Issues
-
Work with physicians to improve ED call coverage, avoid shortages
It's a constant worry for risk managers: Do you have enough physicians taking emergency department (ED) call duty? Will those on call actually respond when summoned? Are they taking ED calls from other hospitals at the same time? -
Keep the doctors' needs in mind, too
While there certainly are times when doctors just shirk their duties, it is important to remember that they may have justification for not wanting to take ED calls. -
'I'm not fallin' for that' reduces patient falls
Reducing falls is a constant worry for risk managers, and sometimes it seems there are no new ideas. But many health care providers are finding the most success with an approach that includes a wide range of efforts, everything from special equipment and monitoring systems to making sure every employee is empowered to prevent falls. -
'TLC' program helps cut lifting injuries
Everyone can use a little TLC, and at Baptist Health, a multifacility health system based in Jacksonville, FL, staff get it from a program called "Transferring and Lifting with Care" or TLC. -
ISMP warns of errors with ADCs
Automation and high-tech systems often are touted as the solution for medication errors, but the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in Horsham, PA, is warning that you could be substituting one type of medication error for another when you use automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs). -
ISMP survey shows risks of using ADCs
Problems related to automated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) include both product design flaws and human errors, according to the 2007 ADC Survey from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) in Horsham, PA. There has been some improvement since the first ADC survey in 1999, but not enough. -
Man posed as ED doctor, used lost badge, police say
Police in Atlanta report they have arrested a man posing as an emergency physician in a hospital, and authorities in Jacksonville, FL, say they still are hunting for a man seen impersonating a doctor in a children's hospital. -
Hospital worker charged with stealing jewelry
Police say an employee of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta stole jewelry from two patients in cases that garnered substantial media attention in the community. -
Legal Review & Commentary: Failure to transfer patient from hospital with inoperable CT scanner leads to death, $1.65 million verdict
A man presented to the hospital complaining of a painful headache. A CT scan was ordered, but the CT scanner was not working properly. After an hour and a half of trying to repair the machine, staff made arrangements to use a backup CT scanner at an imaging center across the street, but that machine also was inoperable.