Falls in healthcare settings are a significant patient safety issue with serious implications for patients, families, and healthcare systems. We bring those we love to a place to treat a medical problem and keep them safe, but then the patient suffers a fall. With luck, there is not injury but sometimes there is a serious…
Category: Safety Posts for patients and families
These posts focus on educating patients and families on how to better protect themselves with they are the healthcare system.
How Do We Train Nurse Practitioners
I have been privileged to work with a lot of wonderful Nurse Practitioners as well as Physician Assistants. Yet, some recent reports have highlighted concerns about the quality and regulation of nurse practitioner (NP) education. A variety of concerns have been noted. Rapid Proliferation of Programs The number of schools offering advanced nursing degrees has…
So You Need To Have Surgery…Do I Need A Bunch of Tests?
When you are getting ready to have a surgical procedure, it is common to have a variety of tests. These include both blood tests and others in preparation for the procedure. But are all these tests really necessary? Well…it depends. If you have a lot of medical problems, and the surgery is considered a “major”…
Stories of Never Events, That Just Keep Happening
In healthcare we talk about never events. Things such as surgeries done on the wrong side of a body, or the wrong body part, or even the wrong organ. These are horrible mistakes that we say should never happen. Yet, this article reminds us that these things keep happening (If you can’t see the New…
Tools to Help Patients Engage in their Healthcare
The Joint Commission’s “Ask” Campaign has been discussed previously. The idea of engaging with patients as while they are in the hospital setting (and elsewhere) is important, but difficult. I have had concerns about the “Ask” campaign, not because it isn’t important, but rather because it can seem to place the burden of engagement on…
The Joint Commission’s “Ask” Campaign
The Joint Commission’s *Speak Up* program, also referred to as the “Ask Campaign,” is a patient safety initiative aimed at encouraging patients and their families to play an active role in their healthcare. The program emphasizes the importance of open communication between patients, families, and healthcare providers to prevent errors, improve care, and ensure patient…
Communicating With Our Patients
Ensuring that patients both understand and engage with their healthcare. Yet, when we talk to patients, particularly in the hospital setting, it can be very challenging to be certain that patients (and their families) can engage. If we can pause in our busy days it might help to try and walk a bit in the…
Prevention of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections
Patients who are admitted for medical problems or surgical procedures may have a urinary catheter placed because of the difficulty that patients have getting up to urinate or using localized methods to urinate. For this reason catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) remain a concerning source of infection in hospitalized patients, causing both morbidity and…
The Ongoing Issue of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)
I thought I would take a break from the ECRI top 10 lists of bad things causing safety related concerns and return to an issue that remains problematic within hospitals. It is now a bit over a year since my father suffered a broken knee cap, underwent surgery to repair the fracture and was then…
And…The 2024 ECRI Top 10 Patient Safety List
ECRI recently released their top 10 patient safety list for 2024. For more information follow this link.
Ways to Stay Safe in the Healthcare System
I found an article from a bit over a year ago that discusses some of the harms that we see in healthcare. It reminds us that the problems are through out all of the areas that you might seek care. Inpatient, the outpatient office, pharmacies, etc. The article then offers a few strategies to help…
When Everything Goes Right
I am sure many heard a report in the last few days about a Japanese Airline that clipped another smaller plane while landing, burst into flame and yet hundreds of passengers were able to evacuate before the plane was fully consumed by the fire. Miraculous….. or was it? The airline industry spends a good bit…
Private Equity in Health Care – Yikes
Several friends sent me a link to an article that I had already seen. It’s upsetting but not surprising. the title of the article is “Serious Medical Errors Rose After Private Equity Firms Bought Hospitals”. You can find the article here. The title of the article pretty much tells you all that you need to…
My Father Just Went to Rehab
On July 20 of this year, my father suffered a cardiac arrest after developing a hospital acquired urinary tract infection. He did not respond to antibiotics and his worsening symptoms were unrecognized until he pretty much died. He survived, but spent a month in the intensive unit, 10 days of which were on a ventilator….
The Stories of Harm in Healthcare are Many
If you are interested in patient safety, there remains so very much work to be done. I hope you don’t have a family member that has been harmed by the healthcare system. Rather, I hope many of you are interested in safety and quality because you can see the opportunities available to improve patient care…