Supporting Safer Healthcare

The frail, elderly patient was so pale as to be nearly invisible against the crisp white sheets.  Any ability to give voice to his thoughts had been taken away by the ventilator tubes in his throat.  The soft restraints on his wrists prevented him from dislodging those tubes, either in confusion or by design.  Other tubes silently pumped fluids in or drained them out.  During [...]

Hospitalized patients diagnosed with Clostridium Difficile (C Diff), Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), or other infectious diseases are usually placed in contact isolation.  The upside to that is a private room, the downside is that for long hospital stays the patient experience can feel like solitary confinement.   Hospital employees must don gowns and gloves before entering the [...]

James L. Madara, MD, takes over the position of Executive Vice President, CEO of the American Medical Association on July 1st.  Madara, 60, is a pathologist and the former CEO of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Having worked with physicians for many years, I rarely hear them even mention the AMA. It appears to be an [...]

Our thoughts are with our colleagues from St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin Missouri, who yesterday had to deal with the kind of major disaster every hospital employee prepares for and hopes to never experience. ABC News Report – Hospital Evacuated after Tornado http://www.stj.com/

This week’s edition of Grand Rounds, the best of the medical blogosphere, is up at one of our favorite medical blogs – Emergiblog.  Stop over and see what’s making Kim and her bird-brained friends angry… 

In a word – Yes. Every adult* should give serious thought to having and maintaining this important document. Establishing advance directives regarding future health care decisions can ensure that your wishes are met and can also relieve your family members of the stress of having to make difficult decisions for you. A living will tells [...]

March 30th is designated each year in the US as “Doctors Day,” a day set aside to acknowledge the benefit we all receive from the excellent work of the physicians who touch our lives. I have the privilege in my current position of working with many physicians who repeatedly demonstrate their willingness to “go the [...]

Walking down a hospital hallway recently I stopped a young nurse and said, “I was just visiting the patient in room 123 and… “I’m not down here, my patients are up there” – pointing to the other end of the hall as she hurried by. I was finally able to find someone to help; the [...]

The Office of Inspector General has posted a list of its Most Wanted Healthcare Fraudsters, and offers a convenient online reporting form  if you know where any of them are.  Two are already listed as captured since the list went live.

 Heart disease and stroke are largely preventable.  The American Heart Association helps us understand our risks.