News tagged with patient safety

Reducing work hours for medical interns increases patient 'handoff' risks

Limiting the number of continuous hours worked by medical trainees failed to increase the amount of sleep each intern got per week, but dramatically increased the number of potentially dangerous handoffs of patients from ...

Health created Mar 25, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Malpractice study: Surgical 'never events' occur at least 4,000 times per year

After a cautious and rigorous analysis of national malpractice claims, Johns Hopkins patient safety researchers estimate that a surgeon in the United States leaves a foreign object such as a sponge or a towel inside a patient's ...

Surgery created Dec 19, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Overprescribing of opioids impacts patient safety and public health

(Medical Xpress)—A Viewpoint article published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that the clinical practice of prescribing amphetamines, opioids, and benzodiazepines to treat chronic pain m ...

Medications created Dec 04, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Safety risks seen in computerized medical records

The nation's transition to electronic medical records, now in full swing, risks overlooking potential patient safety problems, independent advisers warned the Obama administration Tuesday.

Health created Nov 08, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

International team works out secrets of one of world's most successful patient safety programs

A team of social scientists and medical and nursing researchers in the United States and the United Kingdom has pinpointed how a program, which ran in more than 100 hospital intensive care units in Michigan, dramatically ...

Health created Jun 17, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hospitals profit when patients develop bloodstream infections

Johns Hopkins researchers report that hospitals may be reaping enormous income for patients whose hospital stays are complicated by preventable bloodstream infections contracted in their intensive care units.

Health created 21 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Majority of surgical residents object to regulated hours

(HealthDay)—About 65 percent of surgical residents report that they disapprove of the 2011 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Common Program requirements, which place restrictions ...

Surgery created May 16, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

All hospitals should require drug, alcohol tests for physicians

To improve patient safety, hospitals should randomly test physicians for drug and alcohol use in much the same way other major industries in the United States do to protect their customers. The recommendation comes from two ...

Health created May 07, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Lawsuit filed after surgeon allegedly operates on wrong side of patient's brain

A medical malpractice lawsuit was filed Friday against SSM Health Care-St. Louis and a neurosurgeon for allegedly operating on the wrong side of a woman's skull and brain.

Other created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

AMA reveals first step toward improving health outcomes

(HealthDay)—The American Medical Association (AMA) has announced the first stage of its improving health outcomes initiative, which aims to optimize the health of the nation with a focus on preventing cardiovascular ...

Diabetes created Apr 24, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Diagnostic errors more common, costly and harmful than treatment mistakes

In reviewing 25 years of U.S. malpractice claim payouts, Johns Hopkins researchers found that diagnostic errors—not surgical mistakes or medication overdoses—accounted for the largest fraction of claims, the most severe ...

Health created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Better regulation needed for kids' flu vaccine

Flu vaccines given to children should be more rigorously tested before before being allowed onto the market, researchers say, to prevent a repeat of the 2010 vaccine release, which caused a spate of high ...

Medications created Apr 15, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New cutting-edge cell research will lead to safer medical experiments on humans

In almost 90 per cent of cases, novel drugs tested on humans by pharmaceutical companies do not work as intended and must be scrapped. Often the drugs do not work, while at worst, test subjects die. New research from the ...

Medical research created Apr 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Doctors not informed of harmful effects of medicines during sales visits

The majority of family doctors receive little or no information about harmful effects of medicines when visited by drug company representatives, according to an international study involving Canadian, U.S. ...

Medications created Apr 10, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers tackle physician challenge of correctly ordering laboratory tests

A new study involving researchers from the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has identified barriers that clinicians face in correctly ordering appropriate laboratory tests and highlights some solutions that may ...

Health created Mar 21, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Patient safety

Patient safety is a new healthcare discipline that emphasizes the reporting, analysis, and prevention of medical error that often lead to adverse healthcare events. The frequency and magnitude of avoidable adverse patient events was not well known until the 1990s, when multiple countries reported staggering numbers of patients harmed and killed by medical errors. Recognizing that healthcare errors impact 1 in every 10 patients around the world, the World Health Organization calls patient safety an endemic concern. Indeed, patient safety has emerged as a distinct healthcare discipline supported by an immature yet developing scientific framework. There is a significant transdisciplinary body of theoretical and research literature that informs the science of patient safety. The resulting patient safety knowledge continually informs improvement efforts such as: applying lessons learned from business and industry, adopting innovative technologies, educating providers and consumers, enhancing error reporting systems, and developing new economic incentives. This patient safety page provides an evidence-based and peer-reviewed forum to learn about contemporary error and adverse event knowledge.

For more information about Patient safety, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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