A group of patient safety advocates has put together two outstanding web sites chock full of information about how to navigate the health care system safely for you and your loved ones. The Empowered Patient Coalition (click here for the web site) is educating patients on how to become informed and involved in their own….
Continue ReadingArchives for September 2010
Use of rapid response teams hides hospital inadequacies, patient expert says
The use of rapid response teams could be masking underlying patient care problems in hospitals, according to a patient safety expert writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) are teams of doctors and nurses assigned to provide rapid bedside care for patients who are in critical condition. The co-author….
Continue ReadingMammograms Take Another Blow
Some cancer screening tests have been so well proven to save lives, like the colonoscopy, that if you don’t get one, you need more than your colon examined (to borrow from an old Cancer Society slogan about mammograms). But it’s now clear that mammograms don’t fit into guilt-trip status anymore. Using radiation to find lumps….
Continue ReadingMurky Research: The New Era of Prescription Drug Safety
Time was when the Food and Drug Administration would give a new drug the go-ahead for marketing based on a handful of studies involving no more than a few thousand patients. Then millions of prescriptions would be written over the next few years, and the drug would finally have its real test of safety on….
Continue ReadingProstate cancer surgery: Life Saving, or Invasion of the Body Snatchers?
A new book by a prostate cancer survivor and his physician casts yet more doubt on the necessity of surgery for most prostate cancer patients. Invasion of the Prostate Snatchers, by Ralph H. Blum and Dr. Mark Scholz, an oncologist who has treated the disease exclusively since 1995, examines available prostate cancer treatments as well….
Continue ReadingOSHA to consider limiting medical residents’ time on the job to 80 hours per week
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the main federal agency charged with the enforcement of workplace safety and health, is looking at limiting the number of hours medical residents can work to 80 hours a week. The decision to consider such limits came after OSHA received a petition filed by Public Citizen; the Committee….
Continue ReadingDetailed heart surgery ratings now available
Until now, it’s been easier to rate appliances and restaurants than surgeons in most parts of the country, but that should change now that surgeons who perform cardiac bypass surgery are being rated on objective quality measures in Consumer Reports magazine. The consumer magazine recently published ratings of 221 surgical groups in 42 states online…..
Continue ReadingNew alliance creates tools to reduce pain medication misuse
A new patient safety organization has launched a range of online tools and other resources to reduce abuse of opioids by identifying the risks associated with their use. The materials from the CARES Alliance (Collaborating & Acting Responsibly to Ensure Safety) include several “safe-use” programs, tools and educational materials for patients, caregivers and healthcare providers…..
Continue ReadingAnesthetist or Anesthesiologist: What You Need to Know Before Surgery
Nurse anesthetists have been proven to deliver about as safe and high quality care as physician anesthesiologists, but there’s still a key question every patient should ask before being put to sleep by a nurse anesthetist. “Is there a doctor anesthesiologist nearby in case there’s an emergency during my surgery?” That’s the question you need….
Continue ReadingPatient safety authority finds frequent dosing errors with a narcotic drug
Healthcare providers need to know more about the efficacy and potency of hydromorphone, a pain killer frequently used as a morphine substitute in post-operative patients, to avoid medication errors and adverse drug reactions (ADR), says an advisory from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority (PPSA). Researchers hired by PPSA reviewed 1,694 medication error and 937 adverse….
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