Search Tag: medical errors
Medical Errors: Disclosure May Prevent Lawsuits
2017 22 Mar
Hospitals often take a "deny and defend" approach when faced with allegations of medical negligence. However, offering prompt disclosure and apology for medical mistakes may actually reduce the likelihood of their being sued by irate patients, according to an article from The Washington Post. Reforms to the way the healthcare industry handles medical... Read more
4 Things To Start Doing Today to Reduce Medical Errors
2017 06 Mar
1. Practise Good Self-Care It’s vital for your personal wellbeing that you take adequate breaks from work, including time for relaxation and respite in the form of hobbies and outdoor activities. Yoga and meditation can be particularly helpful for maintaining a balanced and clear mind, which equips you for making good, logical decisions that are not... Read more
Does Technology Gap Cause Medical Errors?
2017 16 Feb
Hardly a day goes by without some new revelation of an information technology mess in the U.S. - whether nuclear weapons updated with floppy disks to needless deaths from medical errors, many of which are caused by preventable interoperability communication errors. According to a report released to Congress, the Government Accountability... Read more
Doctors Demand Apology: BMJ Medical Error Deaths 'Shoddy' Study
2016 19 Jul
Two Pennsylvania doctors have reacted against a BMJ paper that claimed one third of deaths in the U.S. are caused by medical errors. Shyam Sabat, M.D., an associate professor of neuroradiology at Penn State College of Medicine, and Virginia Hall, M.D., an associate professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at PSU have called for the journal to retract... Read more
Rudeness Damages Medical Staff Performance
2015 14 Sep
A new Tel Aviv University study published in Pediatrics shows that rudeness can affect hospital staff's diagnostic and professional performance. The results suggest that even the most benign forms of impoliteness may impede medical personnel's ability to perform under pressure and damage the quality of patient care, according to researchers. "While... Read more
EHR Clinic Notes Need Redesign
2015 07 Sep
Electronic health record documentation tools, including the clinic note that recaps a patient's medical history, should be redesigned to better meet the needs of physicians, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine . Researchers from the University of Missouri noted that EHR documentation "mimicked"... Read more
Collaboration Improves Medical Students’ Diagnostic Accuracy
2015 20 Jan
Medical students are more accurate in selecting a correct diagnosis for simulated patient cases when they work in pairs, according to new research from Berlin, Germany. Collaboration improves error correction, bridges gaps in knowledge, and decreases flawed reasoning, the study suggests. The findings are reported in the January 20 issue of JAMA .... Read more
How Well Do We Know Doctors?
2014 23 Dec
In the BMJ's weekly quiz for doctors, 50 respondents were asked to define their personality. The results reveal a wide choice of adjectives related to their working style, their personality, and their attitude among others. The most popular adjectives included competitive, committed, conscientious, determined, driven, exacting, hardworking, obsessional,... Read more
Can Advanced EMRs Make Patient Care Safer?
2014 28 Nov
Patient safety is one of the foremost challenges in US healthcare, affecting hundreds of thousands of patients and costing tens of billions of dollars every year. According to the landmark Institute of Medicine (IOM) report "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System", 44,000 to 98,000 people die each year in US hospitals from preventable medical... Read more
I-PASS Reduces Medical Errors During Patient Handoffs
2014 17 Nov
Preventable adverse events — injuries due to medical errors — are a major cause of death among Americans. Although some progress has been made in reducing certain types of adverse events, overall rates of errors remain extremely high. Failures of communication, including miscommunication during handoffs of patient care from one resident to another,... Read more