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News: A man exhibiting tuberculosis-like symptoms went to a clinic for treatment. Tests were ordered, including an analysis by the state health department, after which it was determined that the man was suffering from a disease related to tuberculosis called Mycobacterium avium. Several months later, the man presented to the emergency department with ear pain and an upper respiratory infection. He died two weeks later.
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Heparin continues to pose a significant risk of dosage errors, and the recent tragedy involving actor Dennis Quaid's two young children has brought concern that hospitals have not taken the necessary steps to avoid this mistake even health care providers were warned about the risk a year ago. Risk managers must act now to avoid the same type of error, say medication safety experts.
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The health care community has been urging staff and patients to "speak up" when necessary to protect patient safety, but how do you know if your staff truly will make a stand in a difficult situation? After all, it's easy to say you will do the right thing, but in the heat of the moment, a staff member can be intimidated by superiors and fearful of rocking the boat.
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The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture: 2007 Comparative Database Report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Rockville, MD, cites "nonpunitive response to error" as one of the areas with potential for improvement for most hospitals.
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The latest example of how the omnipresent cell phone camera can threaten patient privacy and invite lawsuits comes from Phoenix, where a surgeon is accused of using his cell phone to photograph a patient's tattooed genitals and then distributing the picture to friends.
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If hospitals added one more full-time registered nurse (RN) on staff to care for patients, the number of hospital-related deaths in the United States could decrease significantly, according to a new review that also acknowledges adding one more RN isn't as easy as it sounds.
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With studies indicating researchers and the general public have concerns about HIPAA privacy provisions (although not necessarily the same concerns), the Institute of Medicine has convened a committee to look into the issue. That group is expected to make recommendations for possible changes in the law and for greater guidance from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to institutional review boards (IRB) or other groups by this summer.
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An Ohio federal court has ruled that HIPAA's confidentiality requirements don't excuse the state's Medicaid agency from disclosing patient information sought in a class-action suit to enforce Medicaid's Early Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) requirements.
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This is an excerpt from the "Important Medi-cation Safety Alert" that was issued on Feb. 6, 2007, by Baxter Healthcare Corp. and the Food and Drug Administration involving Heparin Sodium Injection 10,000 units/mL and HEP-LOCK U/P 10 units/mL:
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The Massachusetts Hospital Association recently announced that all Massachusetts hospitals are adopting a uniform policy to not charge patients or insurers for certain serious adverse events as defined by the National Quality Forum (NQF), including wrong-site surgeries and serious medication errors. In doing so, Massachusetts becomes only the second state in the nation to take this voluntary action.
