National Patient Safety Week in the US is March 7-13, 2010.
This year, to promote patient safety The Joint Commission will give away 20 copies of “YOU: The Smart Patient,” and a new book “The Smart Parent’s Guide to Getting Your Kids Through Checkups, Illnesses, and Accidents.”
Both books are written for the general public in easy to understand language to help consumers become informed patients and patient advocates. Get entered in the book drawing by taking The Joint Commission's online patient safety quiz.
The National Patient Safety Foundation provides a list of online patient safety resources.
Read Ben Dillon's summary of Captain "Sully" Sullenberger's closing comments at the HIMSS Conference held last week in Atlanta.
The call comes in on the hospital's Sentinel Event hotline. "This is Nurse Jones; I'm calling to report an unanticipated death in the OR. It appears an error was made..."
Risk Management immediately begins an investigation. Staff will be interviewed; equipment may be sequestered and tested; records will be meticulously reviewed. While all of that is occurring, and often before the facts of the matter are fully understood, there is also the issue of what to tell grieving family members who understandably want answers.
While the actual discussion with the family should, in most cases, be led by the attending physician, Risk Managers often set the tone. It is one of the most difficult situations that families and healthcare providers will ever face.
What happens though when risk management and clinicians are at odds about what should be disclosed and how the conversation should unfold? Disagreements among key staffers at such a difficult time can only add to the angst everyone is already feeling.
Physicians may believe that risk managers want them to cover over error in order to protect the financial interests of the hospital. Risk managers on the other hand, don't want clinicians to hastily accept responsibility beyond what the known facts support.
However, as Grena Porto, Senior Director of Clinical Consulting, wrote in The Risk Manager’s Role in Disclosure of Medical Error: Seeing Ourselves as Others See Us in 2001, in reality the goals of both sides are often closely aligned.
"Risk managers must...make concerted efforts to educate physicians about the role of risk management in management of medical errors, including disclosure."
Victoria Forlini notes in a recent article for Fierce Health that "A new study looking at medical errors shows that while risk managers are more likely to want an error disclosed to a patient, a physician is more likely to want to issue an apology."
"Hospital policy also needs to state who has final authority over disclosure and how these disclosures occur."
Read more:
http://qrshealthcare.com/PDFs/RM%20Role%20in%20Disclosure.pdf
If your spirit needs a little lift, a visit to The Examining Room of Dr. Charles may be just what the doctor ordered.
Dr. Anonymous is hanging out in Atlanta this week at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems conference. I'm not sure how he had time to fit in being the host of Grand Rounds, but he did. Stop by for this week's summary of the best of the medical blogosphere.
If you're looking for a new job, are you being smart about it? And what exactly does being smart involve?
Have you heard people say that they are "sending out resumes everywhere, for everything," because they just want to work? While willingness to take on a job that may not be your passion has its merits, it seems these people are rarely successful in their job search. That may be because hiring managers are looking for something else.
If you're in the market for a job, Career Builder has some advice in 9 things that seal the deal for hiring managers. While a good resume and cover letter helps get you to the interview, what you reveal while you're there may well be a game changer.
"When I hire, I hire for 'right fit,' which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with experience or training. A 'right fit' candidate is someone who is aligned philosophically with the company, has a passion for the products or industry, and believes that the kind of work that they do is their mission, not just their livelihood.
"When interviewing candidates to join our firm, two things can be deal breakers: attitude and core values. You can't teach attitude, but you can teach skill. A positive attitude, strong work ethic and strong values should trump more experience and skill.
If you've ever wondered what happens to the food you eat as it passes through the digestive system, be sure to check out this week's edition of Grand Rounds at MD Whistleblower, an educational (on many levels) edition of the weekly favorite.
Fear of public speaking, but not of public writing? Social media could be your platform of choice.
A friend recently asked me about the uses of social media. The request made me think about how rapidly the interactive capabilities of the web are changing, and what that means for us. So if you're wondering just what all the "buzz" is about, here is a summary of my response to her question.
Social networking, i.e., the ability for individual users to connect with one another and contribute publicly-available content, has become a powerful force on the web.
First a word of caution; in general, social networking content does not have the benefit of being peer-reviewed or vetted by editors. For example, CNN posts what they refer to as iReports; videos, messages, etc. from people around the world. The first time you open an iReport you get this message: So you know: iReport is the way people like you report the news. The stories in this section are not edited, fact-checked or screened before they post. Only ones marked 'CNN iReport' have been vetted by CNN.
Although blogs, tweets, Facebook, etc. may not display the same disclaimer, the fact is, readers should view social media content with a healthy dose of skepticism. After a bit of fact checking they can usually begin to determine who offers truthful, trustworthy information.
Blogs for example, can be influential, not just because of frequently updated, worthwhile content, but because bloggers form on line communities by connecting with, and referencing, one another. Those writers in turn gain more credibility, more authority, and more followers, in the blogosphere.
News reporters are expected to be neutral and not take sides on issues; not so with bloggers and other social media contributors. Our venue encourages writers to share more of our own personality and opinions. For most of us, that makes for more interesting reading, as long as we remember that we're reading someone's opinion of the facts, which may of course "shift during transit."
Twitter, and now Google Buzz, a new entry into the social media foray, are micro-blogging sites. I suppose they are growing in popularity because of our ever-decreasing attention spans. (Congratulations for making it to this point in this post - 376 words so far!)
Twitter allows a maximum post size of 140 characters, and both celebrities and ordinary folks jump on Twitter and post little messages about what they're doing, what they've read or seen, or links to sites they find interesting. Twitter posts are called tweets, and if someone likes what you've posted they can re-tweet it, (kind of like forwarding an email, the original author gets credit.)
Google Buzz just opened about a week ago - it's Google's answer to Twitter and attaches to user's Gmail accounts. The concept is similar to Twitter, but Google Buzz allows longer posts, and readers/writers get to see their information as a topic thread with other commenters joining in, so there's a bit more continuity to the messages.
As for Facebook and LinkedIn, Facebook tends to be more social - a way to keep in touch with friends around the world, LinkedIn aims for a more professional interface and encourages connections among professional colleagues, business contacts, professional associations, etc.
Wikis, like Wikipedia, allow various users to contribute content to a single topic, essentially a user-created encyclopedia. For example, someone can go to Wikipedia and search on NAMSS and get a brief article that a member wrote about the association. Other writers can jump in and add or change content, or link to the article. Volunteer editors keep an eye on content updates.
There's more out there, and more on the horizon. Users love being able to participate in the interactive world of social media. It provides an opportunity for even the socially shy to express themselves on topics that matter to them.
Speaking for myself, I sometimes have to step back from all of it because it gets to be a bit overwhelming.
Many of these social media sites track your "friends, followers, or fans," which can create a desire to constantly participate so you gather a bigger "fan" base. Again a caution for users, keep it in perspective, don't get too wrapped up in the numbers, which can go up and down on a whim. Participating in social media can take a great deal of time, so users need to make sure they're getting a worthwhile return on their investment of that most valuable of resources.
Dr. Edwin Leap is our host for this week's edition of Grand Rounds. Stop by for a collection of the medical blogosphere's best posts, as well as a bit of philosophical musing from Dr. Leap.
