-
The Medical Board of California has issued a severe reprimand to a physician accused of providing inadequate pain relief to a dying man, requiring him to attend advanced training to improve his performance.
-
A woman in labor told an attending nurse that she thought the hospital and the obstetrician were not attending to her in a timely manner. The labor and delivery nurse contacted her obstetrician, but he failed to appropriately respond. The nurse should have contacted her supervisors about the womans concerns and the physicians failure to take action, but didnt. The fetus suffered severe brain damage because of a delay in delivery and subsequently died 11 months later.
-
One of the great challenges in the whole world of quality and patient safety is learning to take advantage of the richness of clinical cases, says Robert M. Wachter, MD, professor and associate chairman in the department of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and chief of the medical service at UCSF Medical Center.
-
-
Its 3 a.m., and you get a call from the emergency department. The staff is in a heated dispute with a local police officer whos demanding information about a patient who assaulted another while waiting to be transferred to inpatient care. Your staff is worried about violating patient privacy. The officer is complaining loudly that the hospital is obstructing a criminal investigation. Whats a risk manager to do?
-
Its probably not uncommon for patients to arrive at your facility with their own health care equipment, such as a home dialysis unit or insulin pump, not to mention personal items such as curling irons, computers, and hair dryers. Do you have a policy in place to make sure those items are safe? If you dont, you might be risking significant liability if those items end up injuring anyone.
-
Youve probably got a defense attorney or two giving you advice on how to avoid liability in slip-and-fall cases, but wouldnt it be great to hear from the other side? Imagine if a plaintiffs attorney explained, Heres how to win when my client sues you. Healthcare Risk Management found a plaintiffs lawyer willing to give you that view from the other side, with some tips about how you can best avoid writing his client a big check.
-
When EMTALA was finalized last year, risk managers worried that changes in the rule might mean they would find it impossible to schedule enough specialists on call to meet EMTALA needs. That nightmare is coming true.
-
To make sure your facility has an appropriate disaster plan in place, join Thomson American Health Consultants on Tuesday, Nov. 16, from
2:30-3:30 p.m. ET for If Disaster Strikes, Is Your Healthcare Facility Prepared?, a timely audio conference designed to address the essential needs and requirements of hospital disaster plans.
-
Thinking creatively, but not expensively, is the key to meeting HIPAA requirements with a limited budget.
