Healthcare Risk Management – March 1, 2006
March 1, 2006
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Perinatal safety improved with focus on high-risk factors and education
A large hospital system has seen a 45% reduction in new obstetrical claims after implementing a series of steps that focus on the high-risk factors most likely to contribute to birth injuries, and similar drops were seen in categories such as mechanical injuries and birth trauma. -
Premium credits encourage hospitals to act
When Hospital Corp. of America (HCA) in Nashville, TN, began its focus on obstetrical malpractice claims, the parent company required all of its member hospitals to start collecting extensive data on all births and report on a quarterly basis. -
VBAC risk results in strict criteria or total ban
Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) was tied to a number of obstetrics claims in the Hospital Corp. of America (HCA) system, and inexperience in this procedure may have contributed to the problem. -
Nurses OK'd to begin rolling on C-sections
The length of time it takes to begin an emergency cesarean is a well-known malpractice risk. -
Sexual misconduct requires firm stance
Sexual misconduct or harassment of patients in health care can be a major liability risk and probably happens more than you think, say a risk manager and attorney who are experienced in dealing with such issues. -
Patients can misread gestures, think misconduct
While some allegations of sexual misconduct are valid, many are the result of a misunderstanding. -
Warning signs of sexual boundary violations
Sexual boundary violations often are not overtly "wrong" until you put all the pieces together and see that the health care professional is no longer maintaining a professional distance from the patient. -
Know steps to prevent and respond to allegations
Allegations of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously, and risk managers should have steps in place to both prevent them and respond appropriately. -
Hospital shows just culture can work
Adopting a "just culture" approach can be an effective way to improve patient safety in a hospital. -
Many hospitals not close to IOM goals
Nearly 9% of hospitals have no patient safety systems plan, according to recent research suggesting that risk managers need to reevaluate how they are striving to meet the Institute of Medicine safety goals. -
JCAHO issues alert on meds at hand-off
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has issued a new Sentinel Event Alert that urges special attention to the accuracy of medications given to patients as they transition from one care setting to another, or one practitioner to another. -
Legal Review and Commentary: Failure to detect soft-tissue mass obstruction leads to death, confidential pretrial settlement
After a woman began to experience difficulty breathing, she was rushed to the emergency department (ED), where doctors suspected that the woman's airway was obstructed by a large mass in her throat. -
Legal Review and Commentary: Delays in testing cause woman's death
A morbidly obese woman went to the emergency department (ED) complaining of a headache. Although medical personnel ordered a computed tomography (CT) scan, the test could not be performed because the patient was too large to fit on the hospital's CT scan table.