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A recent example of a surgical fire reported by Mary A. Herman, MD, PhD, assistant professor of anesthesiology at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, illustrates how such an incident can occur in routine circumstances.
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The risk of infection from exposure to a patient's bodily fluids gained great attention over the past 20 years, spurred by the risk of exposure to HIV, and that heightened awareness has led to improvements in needlestick prevention. But another route of exposure to bodily fluids has not received adequate attention, say some experts.
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Health care providers are becoming more familiar with the many errors that can trigger a RAC audit, but what is much lesser known among the health care community is that a patient's mismanagement of Medicare set-aside (MSA) funds post-settlement also could trigger an audit.
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During a three- to four-month period, an 86-year-old man with a history of severe and varied health problems was transferred back and forth between a local hospital and nursing home for recurring urinary tract infections (UTIs).
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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has published an interim final rule incorporating provisions of the Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Health (HITECH) Act related to HIPAA violations that significantly increase the penalties it can levee against employers and health care providers.
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It's nothing new. Compliance with verbal orders has been a struggle for hospitals for more than 25 years. Many experts Hospital Peer Review spoke with compare verbal-order compliance to hand-washing compliance. It's behavioral. It's something we know we have to do. And it's not a matter of ill-intentioned practitioners. It's a matter of time and logistics.
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2007 stipulated a five-year period in which verbal orders must be "dated, timed, and authenticated promptly by the prescribing practitioner or another practitioner responsible for the care of the patient, even if the order did not originate with him or her.
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She watched the young nurse getting chastised for making an error and could see the fear in her face as her manager's voice rose in anger. The young nurse was put on indefinite leave. That's what happens when you make mistakes, she thought to herself.
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Beth A. Duthie, RN, PhD, director of patient safety at NYU Langone Medical Center, wasn't surprised by findings in the study "New nurses' views of quality improvement education" published in the Jan. 10 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.
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