National Activity (173 items)
Interview with Dr. Peter Pronovost, medical director of the Quality and Safety Research Group at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and promoter of a patient safety checklist for doctors.
AstraZeneca has been linked to the deaths of soldiers returning from war.
ProPublica reporters Charles Ornstein and Tracey Weber have put together a very useful tool for tracking nurses performance. The chart shows, "which states allow you to verify a nurse’s license for free online, which provide Web access to disciplinary documents, and which participate in a publicly available national database. "
Patty Skolnik, Founder of Citizens for Patient Safety, makes CNN's "Intriguing people" feature. Patty was a speaker on CU's consumer panel on medical harm at our "To Err Is Human, To Delay Is Deadly" forum in DC. She is a lead advocate in Colorado and nationally on patient safety and doctor accountability issues.
Review of Dr. Peter Pronovost's new book on challenging a "toxic" medical culture that doesn't crack down on medical errors.
A federal database of disciplinary actions taken against health professionals is missing numerous serious disciplinary records.
The National Naval Medical Center has opened a review of the surgical care provided to the late Congressman John Murtha after the Pennsylvania Democrat died following surgery, a senior U.S. military official told CNN Wednesday.
A recent report compiled by Consumers Union comparing infection rates reported by hospitals in 2008 showed that Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx had 44% fewer infections than the national average.
Dallas-based Methodist Health System had two hospitals with bloodstream infection rates double the national average, according to a Consumer Reports study.
The Consumer Reports Hospital Ratings study, released Tuesday, says North General Hospital's so-called central line infection rate was 394% worse than the national average - and the worst in the city.
Hosted by the National Conference of State Legislators (NCSL) sponsored this webinar where speakers presented on Tennessee's infection reporting system and using the CDC's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN)
KY physician Kevin Kavenaugh makes a case for keeping the provisions in the health care reform bills that relate to public reporting of hospital acquired conditions and to Medicaid adopting Medicare rules on nonpayment of hospital acquired conditions.
Medically Injured Trauma Support Services (MITSS) honors Patty Skolnik for her work on patients safety through the organization she founded- Colorado Citizens for Accountability.
FDA Urged to Maintain Strict Risk-Disclosure Rules for Web 2.0
The Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals, reports that wrong-site, wrong-side and wrong-patient procedures occur more than 40 times each week in the United States.
The FDA is holding a meeting this week to get input on “making policy decisions on the promotion” of drugs and medical devices on “the Internet and social media tools. PhRMA, the drug industry trade group, recommends that FDA adopt some kind of standardized online warning language, such as “All drugs have risks. Click here for more information from the manufacturer.”
A new documentary film, "Money-Driven Medicine", tackles the economic underpinnings of an American healthcare system that kills four times as many people through medical error and preventable infections as die in highway accident. Consumers Union has encouraged activists to view this film and take action to make our health care system safer.
“Money-Driven Medicine” examines the medical industrial complex, and what’s wrong with our healthcare system. Watch the movie for free here until November 10 and sign our petition for reform.
When you are very sick, you go to the hospital to get better. But what if the hospital you choose actually makes you sicker, or even kills you? Watch patient safety activist and former actress, Alicia Cole, tell her story about getting a serious hospital-acquired infection that changed her life forever.
For decades, the U.S. health care system has paid doctors and hospitals by the services performed, even if those services harmed the patient. Beginning in October 2008, Medicare will no longer pay for some major hospital mistakes.
Josie King, an 18 month old went to the hospital for burns from hot bath water and later died in the hospital from dehydration and medical error.
"The American hospital, the center of health care, is a cottage industry in the post-industrial world, and we can save billions of dollars by bringing them into the modern world."- Clare Crawford Mason.
Eli Lilly & Co. paid doctors in South Carolina for participating in a speakers’ program in exchange for prescribing the antipsychotic Zyprexa.
Nancy Metcalf, Consumer Reports said: "We surveyed more than 700 nurses nationwide who work in operating rooms, emergency rooms, critical care units and other areas of the hospital."
the savings associated with preventing MRSA infection amounted to $1.8 million a year according to Lance Peterson, MD, of NorthShore Health System in Evanston, Ill.
A determined breed of patient-safety advocates have forged their personal pain into a dedication to improving medical safety.
This report is an overview of the national hand hygiene campaigns, but also regional activities, implemented in Europe since 2000.
Bob Wachter writes: "I remain enthusiastic about 'no pay for preventable adverse events' as a clever way to use payment policy to goose the system into focusing on patient safety prevention practices. But for 'no pay...' to make a difference, there must be evidence-based prevention strategies to implement."
When Alicia Cole learned she needed surgery for benign fibroids, she did her homework on the surgeon and the hospital. "I looked at HealthGrades, Leapfrog, Hospital Compare, and other Web sites," says Cole, a 46-year-old actress from Sherman Oaks, Calif. "But one thing I didn't check was the hospital's infection rate."
View statement and signatures of patent safety advocates concerning healthcare reform.
A law passed in 2007 requires Delaware hospitals to report healthcare-acquired infections to the federal National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Nineteen other states also require hospitals to report infections.
Money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will pay $1 million for infection control in ambulatory surgical centers in Maine, New Jersey, Maryland, Florida, North Carolina, Indiana, Michigan, Arkansas, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming and Kansas.
Op-ed by Jim Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. The Obama administration should take a lesson from the transportation safety board’s successes and establish an independent agency charged with identifying and eliminating the causes of medical error.
Five organizations representing the nation’s experts in infectious diseases medicine, infection prevention in healthcare settings, and public health and disease prevention announced their support for a provision requiring national reporting of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates, which is contained within the healthcare reform bill introduced by leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Congresswoman Jackie Speier (CA-12) held a press conference announcing her bill (HR2937) to screen for and prevent MRSA infections in hospitals.
According to the report, New York hospitals have lower rates of surgical-site infections than hospitals across the rest of the nation, but the same or higher rates of bloodstream infections in intensive care units than those reported nationally.
The UAE offers to help war wounded but must stop infection outbreaks: "High on the list of priorities was identifying and isolating the source of infection; this was done, says the report, by taking wound and nasal swabs from all admitted patients and hand and nasal swabs from all staff who came into contact with them."
Many hospitals cut back on infection-control efforts, which will hurt patients and cost hospitals money.
Public Citizen's report on ineffective hospital peer review (and under-reporting bad doctors to the National Practitioner Data Bank) made ABC World News on Sunday evening, June 21st. Doctors who perform medical errors are not always reported, and hospitals are not penalized for failing to report bad doctors.
Spot inspections at three Veterans Administration hospitals last month revealed that instruments used in colonoscopies and endoscopies were not properly disinfected, potentially exposing veterans to HIV and hepatitis.
Hospital-acquired infections can be reduced significantly or even eliminated with sound prevention procedures.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the drugmaker Wyeth, holding that pharmaceutical companies can be held liable for harm from medicines that carry warnings approved by federal regulators.
Database compares incidents in S.C. hospitals to national averages
Each year Americans are spending more on health care – about $2.4 trillion last year, more per capita than any other nation – but we’re not getting much better for the money. Consumers Union supports stopping the wasteful use of our health care dollars by committing to an independent, adequately funded national research program that uses the most rigorous, open and fair scientific methods to compare the effectiveness and safety of medical treatments.
The infection rate has recently doubled in both frequency and fatalities, both in Illinois and nationally, to half a million cases annually nationwide, and 300 deaths a day, according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Though c. difficile infections are not tracked nationally or at the state level in Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama, a new study shows that the incidence is higher than expected.
Healthcare groups yesterday endorsed recommendations in a campaign to intensify hospitals' efforts to prevent infections that contribute to an estimated 99,000 patient deaths a year in the United States.
MRSA is killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus.
New dress code for all National Health Services UK staff
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine 20-hospital study showed that monitoring institutional water systems can help predict the risk of hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia, better known as Legionnaires' disease.
Report on the results of the first nationwide study on the prevalence of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in U.S to be released.
MRSA is getting a lot of attention nationally because of its increasing prevalence and virulence.
Listen to the NPR Morning Edition story on how an increasing number of states are passing hospital infection report laws and read an interview with Dr. Rick Shannon of the Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh about how hospitals can prevent infections.
A new, more dangerous strain of a germ that has long caused diarrhea in hospital patients is now widespread in the United States, causing severe, sometimes deadly outbreaks around the country, researchers reported yesterday.
Infections that have been nearly eradicated in some other countries are raging through hospitals here in the United States. The major reason? Poor hygiene. In fact, hygiene is so inadequate in most American hospitals that one out of every 20 patients contracts an infection during a hospital stay.
Ivanhoe Broadcast News, a national TV syndicator of health related news, has an excellent 3-part series on hospital infections. The series is being broadcast in approximately 100 stations throughout the month of May 2004. Part 3 of the series, “The Right to Know,” includes an interview with Earl Lui of Consumers Union. Click here to get the text of the entire series.
The United States Senate is on the verge of approving legislation that could decrease the quality of hospital care in New York and elsewhere around the country. It needs to take a moment to be sure it doesn't. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act allows hospitals to shield medical error data from public scrutiny. It adopts a popular and plausible theory that holds that doctors will own up to mistakes, thereby improving the practice of medicine, if they feel they are not sacrificing their careers. But the bill may have other, more insidious effects, if critics such as Consumers Union are correct.
OIG report on the sad state of medical error reporting.
Each state has a different process for investigating and disciplining nurses and for making licensing information available to the public. ProPublica compiled a chart to show which states allow you to verify a nurse’s license for free online, which provide Web access to disciplinary documents, and which participate in a publicly available national database.
A new report on state and federal nonpayment policies for preventable hospital acquired conditions and events that harm patients.
Public Citizen: The U.S. Health and Human Services has failed to issue a final regulation to implement a 22 year old law (called Section 1921 of the Social Security Act) that would expand the National Practitioner Data Bank and allow over 5,000 hospitals and about 700 nursing homes access to disciplinary records on nurses and other allied health professionals.
Advice for preventing infection at an ambulatory facility.
Are you a student? Learn how to protect yourself from MRSA by using this printable pocket guide prepared by Nile's Project.
Printable pocket guide prepared by Nile's Project.
Informational flier prepared by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Twenty-six states have enacted some form of reporting law, requiring hospitals, and sometimes other health care facilities, to submit infection data to the state or the Centers for Disease Control, and release this information to the public on the Internet.
According to the CDC, the overall annual direct medical costs of hospital acquired infections to U.S. hospitals ranges from $28.4 to $33.8 billion.
On February 8, 2006, President Bush signed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-171) (DRA) which contained language creating a system for quality adjustment of Medicare payments for inpatient hospital services. The law required the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to identify at least two hospital-acquired conditions which could have reasonably been avoided through the application of evidence based guidelines and would be subject to the adjustment in payment.
Following last year’s GAO report on the federal response to hospital-acquired infections, the US Department of Health and Human Services has produced a “National Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections.” The federal agency is seeking public comments on the Plan, due 2/6/09.
The GAO determined the scope and collection of available data limited the agencies ability to determine a national estimate of hospital associated infecdtions related to medical devices. However, experts report medical staff practices as a significant factor.
This report is a summary of hospital associated infection data collected by NHSN from 2006-2007. Data was collected on device and procedure associated infections reported by participating hospitals. No individual hospitals are identified.
New national study finds prevalence of C. difficile infections in hospitals 6.5 to 20 times higher than previous studies. Most are identified as health care acquired, indicating hospitals and nursing homes need to do more to stop the spread of these infections. Consumers Union's policy brief (PDF)explains the problem.
About three of every 100 operations performed in the United States are complicated by surgical site infections (Gaynes et al. 2001).
Study reveals overwhelming majority of MRSA infections are acquired in hospitals and health care settings.
The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project reports on the rise in antibiotic-resistant MRSA infection in hospitals.
The antibiotic-resistant bacteria is found in all wards throughout most hospitals. The study is the first nationwide analysis on the prevalence of MRSA in U.S. healthcare facilities.
Many state and national initiatives are underway to mandate or induce health care organizations to publicly disclose information regarding institutional and physician performance.
The problem of antibiotic resistance in treating hospital-acquired infections from the National of Allergy and Infectious Diseases discusses
After careful consideration the CMS along with the JCAHO have agreed to temporarily suspend public reporting of hospital performance on appropriate antibiotic selection for surgical prophylaxis. CMS and JCAHO will continue to collect data on antibiotic selection for surgical prophylaxis during the temporary suspension but will not publicly report performance on this measure on Hospital Compare.
The NQF, a coalition of medical groups, employers, consumer groups and others, this year released practice standards to reduce hospital infection and other quality of care problems.
Voice4Patients.com has been designed to educate patients and consumers (potential users of the healthcare system) on the national epidemic of healthcare error. The site offers informative on-line resources for consumers; including an extensive list of disease specific organizations offering support and education for patients and their families, as well as resources that enable consumers to research medical conditions and browse on-line medical dictionaries. These resources are not a substitute for the expertise of trained clinicians.
Voice4Patients.Com
PO Box 273
Warren, ME. 04864
(207) 975-3475
www.voice4patients.com
voice4patients@aol.com
The Empowered Patient Coalition is a consumer and advocate-led effort to inform, engage and empower the public to assume a greater role in their own medical treatment and in becoming a driving force for meaningful health care reform.
The coalition was formed by advocates Helen Haskell and Julia Hallisy who share the same great loss of a child, similar patient safety goals and a clear vision of a health care system that is safe, effective, transparent and patient-centered.
Our goal is to partner with individuals, other advocates and consumer organizations to give the public a stronger voice in all health decisions. We strive to enable a new level of collaboration by facilitating the sharing of ideas and resources among all coalition members and participants and encourage the formation of powerful partnerships within the group that will lead to policy changes and quality health care for all.
http://www.empoweredpatientcoalition.org/home
Contact: info@EmpoweredPatientCoalition.org
Select your state from an interactive map to find out what physician background reporting is available in your state. Knowing the background information on your doctor could your life.
http://www.patientsrighttoknow.org/
Mothers Against Medical Error (MAME) is a South Carolina-based group that works with medical error victims, healthcare professionals, and legislators to promote its mission of providing support to victims of medical harm; educating policymakers and the public about patient safety issues; and advocating for improvements in healthcare policy. Areas in which MAME has been active include medical education reform, hospital infection reporting, in-hospital patient support systems, and disclosure of medical error.
Contact: Helen Haskell mamemoms@gmail.com
http://www.mamemomsonline.org/
More than 290,000 surgical site infections occur in U.S. hospitals each year. Patients who acquire infections from surgery spend, on average, an additional 6.5 days in the hospital, are five times more likely to be readmitted after discharge, and twice as likely to die.
Surgery patients are at risk for infection because surgical incisions create a pathway for germs to enter the body. Maintaining a sterile environment in the operating room is therefore critical to protect patients from being contaminated with bacteria, which can lead to infection.
How well is your hospital, state and the nation as a whole are performing on three key practices that help prevent infections during surgery? Find out here »
In 2008, my Dad was in a local hospital where he was given a sulfa medication, despite the fact that he was wearing a red wrist band warning about his well-documented life-threatening sulfa allergy, and despite that many medical references do not support this off-label use of the drug in my Dad's medical condition. Furthermore, without an emergency, the doctor and the nurses never informed my Dad or me (his medical power of attorney at the hospital 24/7) about the drug being a sulfa drug, or any of its risks. We even repeatedly asked the doctor about the drug risks before its administration. Yet the doctor withheld all this critical drug information, and lied about the drug risks (which turned out to be significant to my Dad). We later learned that there was also a plan to monitor my Dad after the first dose to watch for an anaphylactic drug reaction. But no one told us anything about this monitoring plan, even after my Dad showed signs of a serious drug reaction.
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My family experienced a surgical error in 2007. We filed a complaint with the state department of public health over this incident. In the single issue of exposing an IgE latex allergic patient to a medical device containing latex, it should have been very easy for DPH to find that the surgeon and hospital provided our daughter with negligent care. The device was clearly labeled as containing latex, the hospital and surgeon identified our daughter, Kelly, as a latex allergic patient before surgery, standard of care at the hospital was the strict avoidance of all latex products in an surgical/medical procedure for an identified latex allergic patient, and the Informed Consent for this procedure does not give the hospital or surgeon permission to treat our daughter with a medical device containing latex.
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Beginning in 1994, my wife Betty LeBlanc was misdiagnosed for more than four years with fibromyalgia. Because we have no approved accurate laboratory test for Lyme disease my wife and thousands like her have been and continue to be misdiagnosed.
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In 2001, Patty and David Skolnik spent nearly three years watching their only child, Michael, play victim to a broken system as a result of unnecessary brain surgery. Due to medical error caused by negligence and incompetence, routine expectations of our healthcare system proved ineffective in providing quality medical care and patient safety for 22 year old Michael Skolnik.
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Dr. Hallisy is committed to and passionate about the subjects of patient safety, health care reform and medical error reduction. Her personal and professional goals include working diligently to help give patients a voice in healthcare solutions.
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