Dr Safety

When the Institute of Medicine estimated that 98,000 Americans die every year from medical errors, shock waves went through our healthcare system. Many in the field claimed that the estimate was faulty and full of hyperbole. Eight or nine years later we know that the number was indeed flawed...way off. We now know that there are 15,000,000 episodes of patient harm annually in our hospitals. That is correct - 15 million times every year someone is hurt by a medical procedure, or the wrong medicine, or the wrong diagnosis. 99,000 people die from healthcare associated infections alone every 12 months. Now add in the patients who die from medication errors and drug interactions, misdiagnoses, failure to rescue, falls in the hospital, and pressure ulcers... The data is staggering. Many more than 98,000 die each year...many more. Perhaps the sixth leading cause of death in America. What can we do? How can you make a difference? How does one protect one's family? Stand up for yourself. Sp...

It cannot be emphasized enough how important hand hygiene is to quality healthcare. In our last post we spoke about the 99,000 people who die every year from healthcare associated infections. Failure to clean one's hands before and after patient care is usually at the center of most of these cases. Patients and their families must speak up and demand that doctors and nurses stop and wash their hands prior to examining them or performing other procedures. Infections caused by staph and clostridium difficile are rampant in our hospitals - yet usually preventable if hospital staff, visitors and yes, even patients, wash their hands. It sounds obsessive but the problem is too serious to be taken lightly. Gloves are not a substitute for cleaning one's hands. Hands must be cleaned prior to and after wearing gloves. We all learned to wash our hands prior to eating and after using the bathroom, yet our healthcare workers must be reminded of this fact in America's hospitals. Do not l...

1,700,000 people are afflicted with healthcare associated infections every year in the United States. 99,000 of those Americans die due to these mostly preventable infections. Of the 1.7 million people infected secondary to their healthcare, 562,000 people are diagnosed with healthcare associated urinary tract infections (uti) annually. This represents 32% of all healthcare associated infections, making uti one of the most common hospital acquired conditions. Over 80% of these patients have had a urinary catheter that has preceded the infection. The Centers for Disease Control [CDC] predicts that the rate of uti is 100% for hospital inpatients with an open indwelling urinary catheter for 4 days or more. Adherence to the proper asceptic precautions when inserting the catheter and maintenance of the closed system of drainage may reduce the infection rate to 25%. However, this risk is still high and it is important to use urinary catheters only when medically indicated. The CDC recommends...

How many have suffered with a loved one over a poor healthcare outcome? The last time you were admitted to the hospital was the care what you expected? Were you satisfied? Are you the pilot of your own health? Or the passenger in a sinking ship? Those who have studied patient safety understand that humans will make mistakes. The secret to success involves protecting patients from those mistakes and preventing harm. Do good nurses make good hospitals? ...or is it the other way around? Please post your responses and open our dialogue...Thank you.

What is quality medical care? How will I know if I am getting great care or not? We hope to answer some of these questions for you here. Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we try to help you figure out what is quality and what isn't!