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Within days of Hurricane Katrina lashing the Gulf Coast states, the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) reminded providers through mailed notices and news media announcements that the privacy rule allows patient information to be shared to assist in disaster relief efforts and in providing patients the care they need.
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News: A change in how trichloroacetic acid (TCA) was packaged translated to a patient being seriously burned and disfigured while undergoing a chemical peel to "touch up" her face-lift. The physician and pharmacist in what was identified as a second incident for each of them failed to appreciate the fact that the TCA had been repackaged and required a new formula for achieving the correct dosage. The patient was awarded $500,000, which was apportioned between the supplier (30%), pharmacist (40%), and physician (30%).
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A national worker safety group says that mandatory flu shots are not justified for health care workers.
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Question: What is the best way to define a fall" for the purposes of data collection and educating our staff about fall prevention strategies? Is it a fall if the patient slips but a staff member catches him before he actually falls? This seems important to keeping accurate records, and we're not sure what to tell staff about how to record and report those incidents.
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Not all I'm sorry" laws offer the same level of protection for health care providers, notes a health care attorney who has studied the laws in several states. Risk managers should be familiar with their own state laws before they advise physicians about how much protection the legislation can offer.
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The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has endorsed the use of blunt suture needles and is poised to begin an educational push to reduce one of the most persistent remaining causes of sharps injuries.
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Hospitals will likely avoid a shortage of flu vaccine this year, even if the shipments arrive in a staged fashion, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported.
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This year's fall flu vaccine campaign has a new twist at some hospitals -- health care workers signing declination statements if they don't want the vaccine.
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Amid worldwide alarm about the spread of H5N1 avian influenza in bird populations, an advisory panel of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a reassuring message: You don't need to stockpile N95 filtering facepiece respirators.
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A recently published planning document by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations outlines 13 essential components of an effective community-based emergency management planning.