Healthcare Risk Management articles from July 2002

Healthcare Risk Management archives from July 2002

Waterborne pathogens: give them special attention or the lawsuits will soon follow: risk managers must work with engineers, infection control to minimize risk.
July 1, 2002... The water sitting in the pipes in the walls throughout your facility could pose a liability risk you've never considered--waterborne pathogens can grow in your water system and provide unique opportunities for infecting your patients. When...

PA considers changing joint and several liability.
July 1, 2002... In a move meant to rescue health care providers from the state's malpractice insurance crisis, the Pennsylvania legislature may soon pass the Fair Share Act, a bill abolishing joint and several liability for any defendant found to be less than...

Language barriers pose risk to health and liability.
July 1, 2002... One patient reported that he "would tell the doctor `OK,' but I didn't understand anything." That is a quote from a patient surveyed in a new study that suggests language barriers increasingly pose a threat to patient safety and, as a result,...

Injury prevention model may improve patient safety.
July 1, 2002... A team of Medical College of Wisconsin researchers, led by Peter Layde, MD, professor of family and community medicine and co-director of the Injury Research Center, are proposing a new way to look at injuries that, they say, will be more...

Consent must be obtained when filming your patients. (Reader Question).
July 1, 2002... Question: We require consent before we allow an outsider, such as a news crew, to videotape patients. But what about recordings made for our own purposes? We want to shoot promotional material in patient-care areas, and we've been told we can...

HHS urges safeguarding of ventilation systems. (Reader Question).
July 1, 2002... More help is available for risk managers trying to revamp their emergency preparedness plans in light of potential terrorist attacks. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released new guidelines for protecting ventilation...

Eight states lead U.S. in senior dollars for court. (Reader Question).
July 1, 2002... A new independent study shows that much of the increased government funding for senior care between 1995 and 2001 has actually gone for lawyers and other litigation expenses, not toward improved patient care for seniors. The actuarial...

Respiratory therapy ampuls a tough read. (Reader Question).(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... The Huntingdon Valley, PA-based Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has issued a stern warning about labels on respiratory therapy medications packaged in plastic containers called ampuls. The labels are "virtually impossible" to...

Dose, quantity errors top list of medication problems. (Reader Question).
July 1, 2002... The top-three causes of reported medication are omission errors, improper dose/quantity, and unauthorized drugs, according to the MedMARx 2000 Report, released recently by the U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP). The high number of omission errors...

Wrong-patient errors are underreported. (Reader Question).
July 1, 2002... Two recent studies suggest that risk managers should take a closer look at how they measure errors in their organizations. One study suggests you should beware of using patient charts to track medical errors because doctors are so inconsistent...

Nurse accused of 10 deaths in MO hospital. (Reader Question).(Richard A. Williams)(Brief Article)
July 1, 2002... Authorities say a former Veterans Affairs hospital nurse killed 10 patients with succinylcholine, and 31 more deaths may be related. Police in St. Louis have arrested Richard A. Williams, who worked at the Truman Memorial Veterans Affairs...

OB/GYN patient dies after egg harvest: $30 million verdict and settlements.
July 1, 2002... News: After a year of being unable to conceive a child, an obstetrician and her obstetrician husband sought fertility treatment, which led to her undergoing an egg-harvesting procedure. The procedure led to uncontrolled internal bleeding in...

Ignored order leads to patient's death.
July 1, 2002... News: Following routine prostate surgery, the patient had recovered and was transported to a floor unit. Once on the unit, the patient was left under the care of a nurse's aide, who failed to appropriately monitor him. Three hours later, a code...

Poor supervision can contribute to a higher rate of errors: when focusing on systems, don't forget human factor.
July 1, 2002... The current focus on systems when exploring the cause of medical errors overlooks one important fact: People still are interacting with those systems. "There are two things you have to remember," says Anthony F. Grasha, PhD, professor of...

Injury prevention model broadens safety scope: create situations where human error can't happen.
July 1, 2002... Traditional approaches to patient safety that focus exclusively on errors may be missing significant opportunities for improvement, argues a group of researchers from the Injury Research Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee....