Healthcare Risk Management – January 1, 2016
January 1, 2016
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Risk managers should disclose errors to staff, not just to the patient
Most hospitals have embraced the idea of disclosing medical errors to the patient and family members, but Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston goes a step further by informing all staff about these incidents. The policy could provide information to be used against the hospital in litigation, the risk manager says, but educating staff and improving patient safety are worth the risk.
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TV screens, ‘WalkRounds’ promote safety messages
Discussing mistakes in its Safety Matters newsletter is only one way that Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston encourages patient safety.
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Hospital recounts NICU mistake and how staff did not disclose properly
A recent issue of the Safety Matters publication at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston told the story of how a tubing connection error occurred in the neonatal intensive care unit, which caused intravenous fluid to damage the baby’s skin at the wrist.
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Concurrent surgeries: How much is too much?
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has been the focus of controversy over the safety of concurrent surgeries and whether patients have a right to know when surgeons are dividing their attention. One patient safety leader tells Healthcare Risk Management that the practice is not necessarily improper but should be monitored by risk management.
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Wrong-site surgery traced to lack of timeout
A surgeon’s wrong-site error on a patient’s brain happened because he failed to perform a timeout before the procedure, according to a recent court decision that also describes how the physician tried to hide his error and did not report the sentinel event to administrators.
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Occupational Safety and Health Administration offers tools on workplace violence
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently unveiled a webpage developed to provide employers and workers with strategies and tools for preventing workplace violence in healthcare.
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Tampa hospital reduces falls 16% in facility’s common areas with simple changes
Determined to reduce slips, trips, and falls in common areas, a safety team at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, FL, studied incident reports to determine the most common causes and potential solutions. After implementing several mostly simple safety initiatives, the hospital saw a 16% reduction in falls from the previous year.
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LGBT concerns overlooked by some facilities
Healthcare facilities are risking legal liability by not adequately addressing the needs and concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender patients, warns a health professional who has addressed the issue for years.
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DOJ recovers $1.9 billion from healthcare FCA cases
The Department of Justice obtained more than $3.5 billion in settlements and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, and $1.9 billion came from companies and individuals in the healthcare industry.
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HHS report: Hospital-acquired conditions decreasing
A recent report from the Department of Health and Human Services indicates that an estimated 87,000 fewer patients died in hospitals and nearly $20 billion in healthcare costs were saved as a result of a reduction in hospital-acquired conditions from 2010 to 2014.
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Hospital safety scores show some improvements
The Hospital Safety Scores released recently by The Leapfrog Group show key shifts among many hospitals on the letter grades rating them on errors, injuries, accidents, and infections.
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Patient’s complaints of pain lead to incomplete exam and $2.2 million jury award
In 2012, a man involved in a logging accident severely injured his back. He was transported to a local hospital, where a physician ordered X-rays of the man’s back. During the course of the man’s X-rays, he complained of being in too much pain to complete the thoracic spine series the physician had ordered.
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Medication mix-up leaves 51-year-old patient with permanent brain damage after heart surgery
In 2011, a 51-year-old man was undergoing heart surgery when complications requiring resuscitation arose. The man required cardioversion and was resuscitated after being shocked five or six times.
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Risks increasing, but risk managers are losing traction in hospitals
At a time when the risks to hospitals and health systems are on the increase, some healthcare risk managers feel as though they are being pushed to the sidelines and their responsibilities delegated among other hospital administrators, says Leilani Kicklighter, a patient safety and risk management consultant with The Kicklighter Group in Tamarac, FL, and a past president of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management in Chicago.
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Incomes on the rise after being flat for six years
Incomes in healthcare risk management are inching upward after six years of stagnation. The jump isn’t much, but at least the trend is in the right direction.
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Jobs outlook improving in healthcare industry
The healthcare economy is improving enough that healthcare professionals are reporting significantly more confidence in their careers, and risk managers might have reason to feel confident in their futures.