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Tort reform advocates and legislators need to better understand the impact of the common law when drafting language to curtail frivolous litigation or establish damages caps.1 Two recent state Supreme Court cases, one from South Carolina and one from Missouri, dampen the cause of medical malpractice liability reform.
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When a teenage patient presented to the ED at University of Michigan Health System (UMHS) in Ann Arbor with unexplained pain in her thigh, the emergency physician (EP) did all the appropriate things to make her comfortable, stabilize the situation, and get her a referral quickly to other specialists, but did not arrive at a definitive diagnosis.
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An EKG revealed a womans obvious ST-elevation myocardial infarction, but she refused to go to the cardiac catheterization lab before speaking to her husband, who proved difficult to reach by phone.
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There is significant variation in emergency physicians ordering of head CT scans for trauma patients, according to a survey of 37 attending EPs conducted during 2009, which quantified their risk tolerance and malpractice fear.1
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Would you take a pledge to raise awareness about sharps injuries and use safer devices? A new coalition called Safe in Common is traversing the country, seeking signed pledges as a way to jumpstart a renewed commitment to sharps injury prevention.
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Gaps in your respiratory protection program can create unnecessary hazards for your employees. A survey of hospitals in California and the Midwest has revealed those weaknesses. For example, health care workers often receive minimal training and are confused about which respirator to use for aerosol-generating procedures.
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Sharps injuries rank eighth in the top 10 device hazards of 2012, according to ECRI Institute, a research organization and evidence-based practice center based in Plymouth Meeting, PA. That places sharps injuries on par with surgical fires (No. 7) and anesthesia hazards due to incomplete pre-use inspection (No. 9).
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As the lines blur between patient safety and worker safety, employee health professionals can expect much more scrutiny from regulators who traditionally focused on patient care.