A diagnosis of cancer puts a patient in an extremely frightening and vulnerable position. Unfortunately, there is often little aid for people in this situation. Instead, they are presented with bureaucratic hurdles and confusion about whose advice to follow. For an example, one could look at the July 29th, 2007 New York Times Magazine section….
Continue ReadingHealthcare System Disadvantages Patients with Low Literacy Levels
The ScienceDaily pointed out recently that illiterate patients are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to getting proper healthcare, even to the point of having a higher mortality rate than literate patients. Another good discussion of the topic can be found in a July 24th, 2007 essay in the New York Times Health Section….
Continue ReadingFewer Nurses Leads to More Pneumonia
The July 24th, 2007 issue of the New York Times Health Section discusses recent findings indicating that a lower nurse-to-patient ratio leads to more patients on respirators getting pneumonia. One of the Swiss researchers who performed the study (involving 936 patients) said that with fewer nurses, each nurse has a larger workload to shoulder and….
Continue ReadingRecent Findings Show Medical Error as Major Cause of Death in U.S.
A recent Millennium Research Group analysis found that medical errors cause up to 98,000 deaths annually, making them the fifth-leading cause of death in the U.S. The findings are described in Medical News Today. A senior analyst at MRG says that miscommunication, transcription errors and incomplete patient records are often the causes of such mistakes…..
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