People who have suffered kidney stones say there’s nothing more painful. But according to new research, for a disturbing number of patients, treating them can cause complications requiring emergency follow-up. All the more reason to heed some good advice about how to prevent them in the first place. Kidney stones are small, hard pebbles formed….
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Suggested Reading: Why the Hospice Industry Needs More Oversight
The relatively new hospice industry is a needed and important part of end-of-life care. But it has grown too quickly for the relatively minor oversight it gets, and that has caused heart-wrenching patient harm. That’s the take-home message of a recent exposé in the Washington Post. “Hospices,” it says, “are among the least inspected organizations….
Continue ReadingStemming the Tide of Misdiagnosis in Doctors’ Offices
We know a lot more than we used to about diagnosis mistakes in hospitals, but a new study says that every year, at least 1 in 20 adults gets the wrong diagnosis in a doctor’s office. For more than 6 million U.S. patients a year, according to the authors of the study published in the….
Continue ReadingIntensive Care Drives Some Patients Crazy, Literally
Intensive care in hospitals includes extreme measures that can induce delirium in many patients, and that, doctors are now discovering, don’t necessarily go away when the patient leaves the ICU. About 3 in 4 ICU patients develop delirium, according to a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and delirium is associated with poorer survival rates and….
Continue ReadingRisk of Lethal Blood Clots Increases in Same-Day Surgery
Outpatient surgery is an increasingly popular medical option, thanks to the cost of inpatient care and the expanding capability of outpatient facilities. More than 6 in 10 surgical procedures are conducted on a same-day-to-home basis. They include operations for cancer, orthopedic and gastrointestinal problems and plastic surgery. But as we recently wrote in a related….
Continue ReadingAmbulatory Care Facilities Lack Safety Scrutiny
Most people are aware of the increasing scrutiny of hospital performance in terms of patient safety. Better infection control and attention to readmission rates are among the criteria by which hospitals are measured and, in the case of Medicare, sometimes reimbursed. But ambulatory facilities don’t fall within traditional hospital oversight, and a recent post on….
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