|
|
|
Get the Latest
|
|
The following links to articles are for your information. PULSE of PA does not necessarily endorse or disagree with the opinions contained within each. To engage in polite, persistent and productive dialogue for health care safety it is vital to be aware of recent developments, research and legislation. These aim to help in that regard. Please share information by emailing a link to your organization or article to webmaster@pulseofpa.org. Thank you.
|
Recent News and Research in Health Care Safety
-
June 2008 PA Patient Safety Advisory
The following hyperlink is the URL for the June 2008 Pennsylvania Patient Safety
Advisory (Vol. 5, No. 2). The file is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.
June 2008 PA PSA Advisory
Selected articles in this edition include:
REVIEWS & ANALYSES
- Care at Discharge: A Critical Juncture for Transition to Posthospital Care
Discharge is a critical transition period for patients and a process that
calls for education, assessment, follow-up, organization, confirmation, and
review.
- Prevention of Inadvertent Perioperative Hypothermia. Hypothermia may occur
in any patient and may result in serious complications affecting the
cardiovascular system, coagulation, and wound infection and healing.
- Icodextrin in Peritoneal Dialysis Solution May Cause Falsely High Blood
Glucose Readings
-
NHS Confederation Debate Paper: Compassion In Healthcare by: Robin Youngson, MD
Published May 2008: Compassion in healthcare: The missing dimension of healthcare reform?
This paper explores how, despite the scope and sophistication of modern healthcare, care and compassion appear to be under strain in health systems globally. It does this through the story of Robin Youngson, an anaesthetist and clinical leader in New Zealand, and his daughter’s treatment in hospital after an accident. Through his prescription for compassion, Robin considers how to put the compassion back in to modern healthcare across the world.
-
Is more aggressive healthcare more dangerous to patients?
Rankings raise issue of aggressive health care
Web site compares hospitals, but doctors say it doesn't tell whole story about painful questions families face
By Liv Osby • HEALTH WRITER • June 15, 2008
"Consumers have a new online tool to compare hospitals, but hospital officials in the Upstate say its value is questionable. The Web site was set up by Consumer Reports, using data from Dartmouth researchers who studied 4.7 million Medicare patients with nine of the most common causes of death at nearly 3,000 hospitals nationwide. It ranks hospitals' treatment styles on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being the most aggressive, for those nine conditions, which include congestive heart failure, cancer and dementia. Dartmouth studies show aggressive care -- defined as frequent tests, more care by specialists, longer hospital stays and higher out-of-pocket costs -- doesn't necessarily mean patients will live longer."
-
Too Many Infants are Dying in the United States
The United States is among the worst in the world for Infant deaths. Despite more neonatologists and intensive care beds than Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, the US still falls far below in the number of babies that survive their first year of life as compared to other industrialized nations.
-
Are zero medical errors a possibility?
An interview with Lucian Leape of The Lucian Leape Institute and National Patient Safety Foundation.
Dr. Leape has been at the forefront of patient safety since writing a landmark 1991 article. His participation in the highly referenced Institute of Medicine Report of 1999 solidified his dedication and stature as a visionary in this mission. It should not be a surprise that he started his career as a pediatrician and is now an Associate Professor of The Harvard School of Public Health.
-
PA Dept of Health MRSA Recommendations
With the recent four reported cases of MRSA in the Greater Philadelphia area(including a two year old boy and school aged children), these reccommendations are valuable tools to reduce your risk.
-
Competition over Cardiac care
An internal medicine physician in New Jersey does not believe community hospitals should be allowed to perform certain procedures without surgical back up. His 84 year old father died following angioplasty performed at such a hospital last month. A letter he wrote regarding his opinions and concerns was delivered to The Inquirer by a representative of competing hospitals that oppose current policy.
-
The Medical Credit Card Trap
Health care providers are increasingly pushing special credit cards as a way for the cash-strapped under-insured to cover their medical expenses. But then the bills start piling up.
Helaine Olen, Author
-
Can Nurses Stop a Surgeon?
"The patient was prepped. The surgical team was ready. The equipment tray was loaded, the devices cleaned.
The surgeon asked for the scalpel.
“No,†said Clarita Distor, R.N. The team at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center was taking a “time-outâ€â€”something they do before every surgery to make sure they are operating on the right patient and the right body part with the right equipment.
The doctor refused to participate."
-
Boom Times for Dentists, but Not for Teeth
By ALEX BERENSON
"For American dentists, times have never been better.
The same cannot be said for Americans’ teeth.
With dentists’ fees rising far faster than inflation and more than 100 million people lacking dental insurance, the percentage of Americans with untreated cavities began rising this decade, reversing a half-century trend of improvement in dental health."
-
G.M. Pact Calls for a Push for Health Care Reform
"In a labor agreement reached last week between the company and the union, G.M. has agreed to spend up to $15 million over the next few years to create a National Institute for Health Care Reform.
The pledge is contained in contract language that creates a voluntary employee benefit association, or VEBA, a health care trust that would take responsibility for G.M.’s $55 billion liability for benefits covering G.M. employees, retirees and their families."
-
Pressure is on hospitals to stamp out bacterial bugs
"Infection data collected by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council show the cost of bloodstream infections amounted to an additional $609 ..."
-
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Chooses Healthworks
"Douglassville, PA, United States, 10/15/2007 - Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania recently selected Healthworks, Inc., to provide specialized cardiovascular electrophysiology education program to new hires in effort to improve employee retention, increase quality of patient care."
-
From the Pennsylvania Democrats
"Our action – from the inception of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a plan that has served as a model for the country, to the fight to reduce medical errors and end mandatory overtime for nurses – has put us at the forefront of positive change."
-
SORRY WORKS! RESPONSE TO HARVARD DISCLOSURE STUDY
"The only feasible way to measure the financial impact of disclosure is to directly study institutions conducting disclosure. However, this was the most surprising facet of the study: The authors did not study real-world institutions conducting disclosure!"
-
Pennsylvania Two year-old Undergoes Surgery for MRSA Infection
"It started out as a little pimple on his elbow," the boy's mom said. It quickly became "huge and scary."
-
|
|
|
|
