Category: Patient Safety | Page 2

Patient safety is always spoken of in terms of being the most important factor in healthcare. After all, if the healthcare system can’t keep its patients safe, any good individual doctors or nurses may have achieved is eliminated. Research on harm suffered by thousands of patients every year suggests the current system is far from […]
Patient Safety

The commercial aviation and the airline industry are subject to very strict government regulation. In the event of a crash, it is not the airline, nor the manufacturer that investigates what went wrong. No, a separate governmental agency, whose job is only to examine transportation disasters, handles the investigation. The accident or crash reports can […]
Patient Safety + Surgical Errors

Surgeons and patients are not thinking about fires when they enter a hospital operating room.  There are so many things that take priority at that moment. For the patient, this is an opportunity to improve their quality of life.  For a surgeon, this is what they are trained to do. Too often, unfortunately, they are […]
Hospital Negligence + Patient Safety + Surgical Errors

Surgical infections are a threat to patient safety for all who undergoes any surgery. The skin is marvelously effective at protecting us from infection, but once that seal is broken, things can go terribly wrong. With any surgery, the incision is necessary and the implement that may be used can itself carry an additional risk of […]
Patient Safety + Surgical Errors

It is very likely that you are not familiar with some rather important legislation being considered by Congress regarding the funding and approval for medication and medical device development. Unless you are in the medical field or involved in politics, you may have never even heard of the 21st Century Cures Act, much less how […]
Medical Research + Patient Safety

Patient safety should be the top priority of every hospital and medical professional. Unfortunately, it seems that when a procedure is not performed regularly by a surgeon the risk to their patient jumps significantly. For example, the national death rate from a knee replacement surgery is about 1 in 1000. Patients that have that surgery […]
Patient Safety + Surgical Errors

Doctors can make mistakes when calculating the proper dosage of a medication. They can fail to read a patient’s chart before prescribing a certain type of medication. In other cases, a patient’s chart may be missing information vital for a doctor to designate the appropriate course of treatment. These are just a couple examples of […]
Doctor Errors + Patient Safety

Leaving the hospital can be a sign that a person is on the road to recovery or has reached a point where his or her care can be managed at home. Many people look forward to this and often consider it the beginning of a new chapter. Unfortunately, there are some people who cannot move […]
Hospital Negligence + Patient Safety

The very nature of surgery is risky without taking into account the possibility of surgical errors and/or medical negligence. The consequences of which can be very difficult for victims to cope with. Whether the consequences are physical, financial, emotional, or a combination, they can permanently affect a person’s well-being. Sadly, many of these errors are […]
Civil Justice + Patient Safety + Surgical Errors

The relationship between a patient and the doctors and nurses treating that patient is a delicate one. Patients have to trust and rely on medical professionals to use their extensive training and experience, but that doesn’t mean patients are okay being left in the dark when it comes to certain medical decisions. This is why […]
Patient Safety + Surgical Errors

After a tragic plane or automobile crash, we often read that investigators will know more about the incident after they check the “black box.” These devices record data that proves to be crucial in determining what went wrong and under what conditions the accident occurred. The information gathered from the black box can be crucial […]
Patient Safety + Surgical Errors

Any patient undergoing a surgical procedure can be frightened. No matter how routine an operation may be, there are still risks and the potential for complications to arise. When that patient is a child, the experience can be that much more upsetting for the child and his or her parents. Researchers at Johns Hopkins have […]
Patient Safety

While it can be very troubling to hear about outpatient surgery center infection rates, it is important to have this information. Without it, there is no way to recognize patterns and improve patient safety. Unfortunately, there are some facilities for which some of this information is not available. Ambulatory care centers, where many outpatient surgical […]
Patient Safety

Pain is one of the major reasons a person goes to see a doctor. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the way in which pain is managed or controlled is a big factor in how patients rate their healthcare experiences. Dermot Maher, MD along with a group of researchers surveyed over 2900 surgical patients and he […]
Patient Safety

The sudden need to seek hospital care for an illness or injury can be nerve-wracking for some folks in Chicago, yet a hospital’s high standards in patient care can help to alleviate any apprehension. Folks might not fully understand the state of their health when they first seek medical treatment, but they trust that hospitals […]
Patient Safety

Approximately 13 years ago, the Institute of Medicine issued a milestone report entitled “To Err is Human” on preventable errors in national hospitals that initiated the patient-safety movement. Unfortunately, according to a study conducted in January of this year, not much has changed: six out of seven hospital-based adverse events, mistakes and accidents go unreported. […]
Patient Safety

All hospitals in Illinois and across the country should already be putting the safety of patients first. Patient safety and quality care is often associated with low readmission rates and few incidents ofmedical malpractice. But this fall, hospitals may feel pressured to do more to guarantee patient safety and quality care. After analyzing hospital readmission […]
Patient Safety

Illinois doctors have a commitment to provide the same quality care to all patients at all times. When a doctor discriminates against a patient, the patient could receive negligent medical care. This could cause irreversible harm. All folks should have protection under the 1977 Human Rights Law to be treated with “respect,” but a recent […]
Patient Safety

In an effort to improve the quality of care provided at hospitals, a familiar concept for evaluating achievement will now be used by one nonprofit group to rate hospitals: letter grades. Consumer Affairs reports that the nonprofit The Leapfrog Group and a Blue Ribbon Panel evaluated over 2,650 hospitals from around the United States and […]
Patient Safety

Illinois state regulators are being accused of a severe lack of diligence in policing the holders of medical licenses in the state. In some instances, doctors who have repeatedly engaged in medical malpractice, or have even been accused by patients of sexual misconduct have been allowed to continue to practice. The state of Illinois ranks […]
Patient Safety