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The management of heart disease has undergone a dramatic evolution over the past 20 years, driven by major developments in devices used for the treatment of vascular conditions and arrhythmia.
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Patient safety is on everyones minds these days, but how do you know how well your organization already is doing on this topic? One way is a tool offered by the Agency for Health-care Research and Quality (AHRQ), an arm of the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, DC.
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If the flu season hits your community hard, will your health care staff suffer because they didnt get enough flu shots? Quite possibly. But there is something risk managers can do.
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When risk managers first heard that there wouldnt be enough flu vaccine from the two manufacturers still providing it, many probably reacted with the same thought: Thats what you get when money-hungry trial lawyers run health care companies out of business. But is that really the cause of the flu vaccine shortage?
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Health care providers in Texas have agreed to pay $12.5 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from the theft of an unattended ambulance, which was then involved in an accident that killed a father and seriously injured the rest of his family. The plaintiffs attorney says the settlement underscores the need for hospitals to secure ambulances and other vehicles.
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New research continues to dispel the once widely accepted belief that premature infants suffer brain injury from a lack of oxygen usually attributed to obstetrician error. In fact, infection plays a larger role, according to a high-risk obstetrician and assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
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In the aftermath of a tragic sentinel event traced back to poor processes, the appointment of a new patient safety officer at Duke University Hospital System in Durham, NC, raises several immediate questions.
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Low back pain is a frequent patient complaint in the emergency department. In fact, the same patients may visit the ED repetitively with the same complaint. It is easy to be assuaged into thinking that these patients are merely seeking drugs, but to make that assumption can lead a clinician to miss the cauda equina syndrome and may result in a malpractice action if efforts are not taken to identify any new symptoms and signs in a patient with low back pain. This issue provides the reader with a solid understanding of diagnosing and caring for patients with cauda equina syndrome in the ED and the medicolegal issues that arise from failing to diagnose and appropriately treat these patients.
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This case involves several issues related to standard of care and possibly to causation, which are subject to review by the facilitys risk manager.
