The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an eye-opening report last month examining the rates of hospital-acquired infections throughout our nation’s hospitals. While the report revealed that some notable progress was being made concerning the fight against these HAIs, it also revealed that they remain a very real threat to patient safety. To […]
Last time, our blog discussed how the Pennsylvania-based ECRI Institute recently released a new list outlining the top patient safety concerns of 2014. The brainchild of a multidisciplinary team, the list was derived from careful examination of over 300,000 patient-safety events voluntarily reported to the ECRI Institute by over 1,200 U.S. hospitals. To recap, “The […]
Several times throughout the year, the Pennsylvania-based ECRI Institute will release two highly influential top 10 lists identifying various healthcare issues, of which both hospitals and medical professionals should be aware, and offering comprehensive solutions or preventive strategies. For instance, the group, whose stated mission is to “research the best approaches for safety, quality, and […]
From surgical checklists to hand washing protocols, efforts are now underway at hospitals across the nation to improve the overall quality of care they provide and to reduce any and all incidences of patient harm. While these efforts are certainly laudable, some experts are saying that perhaps more effort needs to be directed towards improving […]
Most of us would imagine that when possible medical malpractice occurs at a hospital, administration officials would take every possible step to ensure that the incident — or anything closely resembling it — never happens again. This could include everything from conducting a comprehensive review to disciplining the medical professionals implicated in the matter. Unfortunately, […]
If you’ve ever walked out of a doctor’s appointment with a prescription or two in your hand, there’s a good chance that you couldn’t begin to decipher what exactly was written on the paper in front of you. In fact, this inability to decipher may have had nothing to do with the poor penmanship that […]
Thanks to the efforts of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and vehicle safety advocacy groups, most of us know all about the dangers posed by distracted driving. Specifically, we are now more aware than ever of just how dangerous it is to talk and text while behind the wheel. Unfortunately, we also know that […]
Last week, our blog examined how scientists were continuing to explore whether simple blood tests could be used to help diagnose heart attacks. During this discussion, we reported that statistics have revealed that as many as 2 percent of patients actually suffering heart attacks are misdiagnosed and sent home without further treatment, a scenario that […]
For the most part, medical malpractice claims alleging negligence on the part of a hospital are fairly straightforward. For example, a complaint might allege that a hospital’s failure to abide by sterilization protocol resulted in a dangerous infection or that an overworked nurse’s failure to administer a medication caused serious injuries to a patient. Unfortunately, […]
Statistics show that more than 15 million people here in the U.S. and across Europe report to emergency rooms complaining of chest pains every year. While the majority of these cases involve conditions that can create symptoms mirroring a heart attack, such as anxiety or indigestion, there are many for whom these chest pains are […]
