When medical malpractice lawsuits make national headlines, it’s most often because the specialist’s error was particularly egregious, resulting in incredibly severe injuries to the patient or worse. For example, a plastic surgeon may botch a procedure leaving a patient with permanent scarring, an anesthesiologist may stop a patient’s heart after administering the wrong dose of […]
Last time, our blog discussed the importance of hospitals having good interpreters at the ready to help accurately translate arcane medical information between the patient and provider. To summarize, good interpreters — meaning those with extensive training — can help eliminate the risks posed by having family members serve as the primary mode of communication, […]
If you’ve been to the airport, DMV or even the local shopping mall lately, chances are that you’ve noticed signs posted in multiple languages from English and Spanish to Chinese and Russian, just to name a few. While this makes good sense given the changing demographics of many U.S. communities, there is a least one […]
Last time, our blog discussed how so-called incidental findings — unintentional yet important medical discoveries that appear in as many as one third of all imaging tests — were being grossly underreported in radiology reports or even to patients. In particular, we discussed how this type of medical mistake was most likely to occur in […]
While the term “incidental finding” may sound like something found in a police report, it is actually a very significant medical term found in a patient chart. It essentially describes an unintentional yet important discovery made during an imaging test — CT scan, X-ray, MRI, etc. — undertaken for a completely unrelated purpose. To illustrate, […]
In our last post on this important topic, our blog discussed some of the risk factors typically associated with general anesthesia, as well as the rare complications that can arise with its use. Today, we’ll continue this discussion by exploring what happens when a patient is under general anesthesia and the importance of the pre-surgery […]
One of the hardest times for any parent is when their child comes down with some sort of illness that leaves them feeling sick and uncomfortable or, even worse, in pain. Understandably, parents want to do everything in their power to help their children feel better, including giving them the necessary medications. According to a […]
All this week, we’ve been discussing what pharmacies can and should do to protect patients from the dangers posed by medication errors involving the wrong drug, wrong dosage and even the wrong patient. While it may be tempting to dismiss the dangers posed by medication errors, consider that the Food and Drug Administration’s MedWatch Program, […]
Today, our blog will continue exploring the myriad ways in which prescription errors are committed by pharmacy staff — techs and pharmacists — and the steps that many establishments are now implementing to rectify this problem. How do errors occur during the pill dispensing process? In general, a tech will compare the unique identification number […]
Our blog has devoted considerable time to discussing medication errors, including steps that patients can take to protect themselves from being victimized. In keeping with this theme, our blog will now examine some of the more common ways in which pharmacy staff commit prescription errors and the steps that many pharmacies are now taking to […]
