With hospitals all over the country realizing that there is a benefit in having the surgical team pause, take a breath, and double-check that everything is in order before proceeding, a hospital in Washington has formalized that process even more by using a checklist that the team can go through before starting the procedure. The simple procedure can have a major impact on patient safety, the hospital reports.
A man went to the eye clinic at a local hospital complaining of chronic blurry vision in his left eye. The man was seen by a resident who removed the man's left eye contact lens and placed it in a contact lens case containing contact lens solution. When the contact lens was placed back into the man's left eye, the man felt a burning sensation. The resident removed the contact lens, but the man was thereafter diagnosed with corneal damage and superficial punctate keratitis. Within a few months, the man went completely blind.
A pre-eclamptic pregnant woman developed HELLP syndrome. Treatment for the syndrome was unsuccessful, and an emergency cesarean was conducted when the baby was at 27 weeks gestation. At birth, the child was diagnosed as intrauterine growth-retarded and was placed in the neonatal ICU. The child was later diagnosed with anemia and, in light of multiple blood draws, required a blood transfusion
One of the most difficult challenges in a health care setting is creating or changing culture, and this certainly applies to HIPAA compliance. Experts agree that engendering a culture of compliance requires a delicate combination of several strategies:
Risk managers must mitigate the natural human temptation to snoop and gossip, because the potential legal ramifications can be huge, says Robert Wolin, JD, a partner with the law firm Baker Hostetler in Houston.
General surgeons have become scarcer in hospitals across the country, many of them beaten down by diminishing payments and grueling work hours, and some lured away by specialized surgery niches that offer more money and a better lifestyle. That means hospitals are increasingly dependent on surgeons-for-hire.
Extending temporary privileges to a traveling surgeon can be risky business, says Leilani Kicklighter, RN, ARM, MBA, CPHRM, LHRM, 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 (ASHRM) in Chicago.
Photographs of ED patients' clinical findings are being taken more frequently, due to the ubiquity of digital cameras, increasing use of electronic medical records, and their recognized value in medical education.
Once administrators at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL, discovered that a nurse had exposed patients to serious infections by reusing disposable tubing and IV bags, the hospital acted quickly to notify those affected and arrange testing.
Needlestick injuries were a hot topic in years past, when the health care industry took notice of the risk posed by exposure to hepatitis and HIV in the workplace, but now it is easy to assume that you've taken all the right precautions and lowered the risk as much as possible. But have you really?
