Healthcare Risk Management articles from October 2004

Healthcare Risk Management archives from October 2004

Simple strategies can help reduce falls and liability in your facility; women and elderly fall more frequently.
October 1, 2004... Slips, trips, and falls happen in any health care setting, and they can be enormously expensive. The good news is that you can sharply reduce those accidents by aggressively employing some rather simple strategies. It's simple, but not...

Top 10 strategies for reducing slips and falls.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Experts say these are the top 10 strategies for reducing slips, trips, falls, and the associated liability: 1. Assess flooring surfaces. Study friction levels and eliminate uneven surfaces. Choose flooring surfaces carefully when designing...

If you want to reduce falls, you've got to plan.
October 1, 2004... Slips and falls are a leading loss driver in both frequency and severity, says Jim Sheridan, senior risk control consultant with PMA Insurance Group in Blue Bell, PA. To remain attractive to insurers, health care providers must take a proactive...

Self-assessments can be used against you.(Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations)
October 1, 2004... Insurance industry underwriters are relying more on risk assessments when you apply for coverage, but they're not the only ones you have to please. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, also...

Hospital ad supports doc in malpractice case.
October 1, 2004... Doctors accused of malpractice may find it a lonely ordeal as their colleagues avoid any association with the case, but one Maine hospital decided to publicly support a cardiologist on trial after the death of a patient. The hospital placed an...

Children more at risk from adverse events.
October 1, 2004... Children in hospitals often experience adverse patient safety events such as medical injuries or errors in the course of their care, new research shows. Those in vulnerable populations, including children younger than I year old, are at highest...

Long hours, nursing fatigue put patients at risk.
October 1, 2004... A major nationwide study has found that the long hours worked by hospital staff nurses may have adverse effects on patient safety. By studying the work habits of 393 hospital staff nurses, researchers determined that nurses working more...

Stolen info results in first HIPAA-related conviction.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The U.S. Attorney's office in Western District of Washington state has announced that Richard W. Gibson, 42, of SeaTac, WA, pleaded guilty in federal court in Seattle to wrongful disclosure of individually identifiable health information for...

Carefully document patient requested ED transfers.(Reader Question)
October 1, 2004... Question: What should our emergency department (ED) staff do when a patient requests transfer to another facility before being examined and stabilized? Can we comply with that request without violating EMTALA? Answer: This situation can...

Audio conference: including children in clinical research.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Children get sick. When they do, parents and pediatricians alike expect to employ just the right therapies, which often include a regimen of drugs, to treat their conditions. But are drugs known to be safe for adults, necessarily safe for...

CE questions.
October 1, 2004... Nurses participate in this continuing education program by reading the issue, using the provided references for further research, and studying the questions at the end of the issue. Participants should select what they believe to be the correct...

'Safety culture' approach guides health system's efforts; health system takes cue from manufacturing world.
October 1, 2004... It's not that unusual these days to find health care professionals modeling their performance improvement efforts on proven strategies from the world of business. It is, however, unique to find a health care system's safety culture taking its...

Failure to properly treat a puncture wound results in leg amputation, brain damage: $7.1m settlement.
October 1, 2004... News: A child fell from a tree and sustained a puncture wound significant enough to require stitches. Because the emergency department (ED) physician failed to remove a piece of wood from the wound while he was treating the boy, the child's leg...