Search Tag: medical errors
Medical Errors in the Preanalytical Phase of Blood Gases Test
2023 26 May
The preanalytical phase of the blood gases study is the most susceptible to errors, causing increased time and costs for patients and hospitals. Knowledge and training of the involved health personnel must be constant to improve results. Introduction Arterial or venous blood gases test is a frequent tool in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU)... Read more
Processes to Reduce Medication Errors in the ICU
2022 17 Feb
Medication errors are common in the complex environment of the ICU. This article provides an overview of the prevalence and impact of these errors and the processes that could help reduce their incidence. Introduction Medicines are the most widely used intervention in the critical care environment, and errors in medication use are a well-established... Read more
Report Errors to Improve Practice
2020 06 Jul
Medical errors must be prevented as much as possible so as not to jeopardise patient safety. In nursing, studies have found that the most common mistakes are made in relation to medication, documentation, infection prevention, miscommunication and falls. You might also like: New hospital policies and procedures required for... Read more
Closing the Loop: The Road to Zero Medication Errors
2019 26 Aug
Summary: It is estimated that even today, medical errors are the third leading cause of deaths in the US, costing the health system several billions of dollars a year. Many of these deaths can be attributed to the misuse of medication. When used properly, medications save lives. Unfortunately, medication and dosing errors are one of... Read more
New hospital policies and procedures required for patient safety
2019 22 May
Eighteen Actionable Patient Safety Solutions are the key to zero preventable patient deaths in our hospitals. What are the patient safety processes that every hospital administrator and healthcare professional should adopt today to avoid preventable patient harm and death in hospitals? It’s an unfortunate fact of the medical profession... Read more
Sedation practices in the ICU
2019 24 Jan
Report of a symposium presented at LIVES 2018: 31st congress of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, Paris, France Chairs: Michael Sander, Germany & Jean-Daniel Chiche, France Knowledge and practice in sedation and analgesia in the ICU have advanced greatly in recent years. The risks of delirium and of over-sedation... Read more
Medical errors: is prevention possible?
2018 21 Aug
How the Patient Safety Movement is striving for zero preventable deaths by 2020 A patient death is distressing enough, but when the cause is a lack of hospital safety culture and it could have been prevented, healthcare needs to act. Now. A health crisis across the globe is claiming over 4.8 million lives every year. It’s devastating... Read more
Medical errors: caused by burnout or unsafe healthcare settings?
2018 17 Jul
Medical errors are said to be responsible for 100,000 to 200,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. While medical errors are common, there is limited data on how physician burnout contributes to such mistakes. A new Stanford-led study shows that medical errors may stem more from physician burnout than unsafe healthcare settings. Researchers conducted... Read more