			Home About us Contact

Patient Injury (patient + injury)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	80%

Selected Abstracts

Patient Injuries from Surgical Procedures Performed in Medical Offices: Three Years of Florida Data

DERMATOLOGIC SURGERY, Issue 12p1 2004
Brett Coldiron MD, FACP
Background. Many state medical boards and legislatures are in the process of developing regulations that restrict procedures in the office setting with the intention of enhancing patient safety. The highest quality data in existence on office procedure adverse incidents have been collected by the state of Florida. Objective. The objective was to determine and analyze the nature of surgical incidents in office-based settings using 3 years of Florida data from March 2000 to March 2003. Methods. An incidence study with prospective data collection was performed. Individual reports that resulted in death or a hospital transfer were further investigated by determining the reporting physician's board certification status, hospital privilege status (excluding procedure specific operating room privileges), and office accreditation status. Results. In 3 years there were 13 procedure-related deaths and 43 procedure-related complications that resulted in a hospital transfer. Seven of the 13 deaths involved elective cosmetic procedures, 5 of which were performed under general anesthesia and 2 of which were performed with intravenous sedation anesthesia. Forty-two percent of the offices reporting deaths and 50% of the offices reporting procedural incidents that resulted in a hospital transfer were accredited by an independent accreditation agency. Ninety-six percent of physicians reporting surgical incidents were board-certified, and all had hospital privileges. Conclusions. Restrictions on office procedures for medically necessary procedures, such as requiring office accreditation, board certification, and hospital privileges, would have little effect on overall safety of surgical procedures. These data also show that the greatest danger to patients lies not with surgical procedures in office-based settings per se, but with cosmetic procedures that are performed in office-based settings, particularly when under general anesthesia. Our conclusions are dramatically different from those of a recent study, which claimed a 12-fold increased risk of death for procedures in the office setting. [source]

Patient Injury and Liability: Why Worry?

THE JOURNAL OF LAW, MEDICINE & ETHICS, Issue 3-4 2001
Barry R. Furrow
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Suspected Conversion Disorder Foreseeable Risks and Avoidable Errors

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 11 2000
Thomas H. Glick MD
Abstract. The authors reviewed the occurrence in their emergency department of cases of serious neurologic problems initially thought to be conversion disorders or similar psychogenic conditions. Their aim is to indicate the significance of this issue for emergency physicians (EPs) because of its contribution to the incidence of medical errors. Although there are no national statistics, the authors estimate by extrapolation that thousands of such cases probably have occurred and large numbers may still occur each year in the United States, sometimes resulting in patient injury. They have identified ways of anticipating and attempting to prevent such occurrences. Proposed interventions focus on education regarding the difficulty of diagnosis, patient-based risk factors, and physician-based attitudes and thought processes. The authors also include suggestions for systemic "safety nets" that will help to ensure quality of care, such as appropriate imaging and consultation. Review of texts and journals readily accessible to EPs revealed little attention to this subject. [source]

Improving communication of drug risks to prevent patient injury: proceedings of a workshop

PHARMACOEPIDEMIOLOGY AND DRUG SAFETY, Issue 3 2003
William H. Campbell
Abstract Purpose The Centers for Education & Research on Therapeutics (CERTs) is conducting a series of workshops on managing the risks of therapeutics, with the ultimate goal to develop an agenda for research and education about risk and its management. This paper presents the results of the first workshop in the series, a 2-day meeting focused on communication of drug risks to healthcare professionals and patients. Methods The 50 workshop participants represented the medical-products industry, academia, consumer groups, regulatory bodies and the media. Together, they sought to identify and understand barriers to successful risk communication, to identify tools or methods that could improve risk communication, and to develop research and education agendas that would lead to better risk communication in the future. Results Limitations of current methods of risk communication were identified, and research and education agendas were proposed to clarify and resolve these issues. Conclusion Common themes for potential solutions include enhanced education of healthcare providers, increased motivation of patients and families, use of creative communication technologies, and better organization of and access to medical records and information. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Nurses' and physicians' viewpoints regarding children visiting/not visiting adult ICUs

NURSING IN CRITICAL CARE, Issue 2 2007
Susanne Knutsson
Abstract Allowing children to visit adult intensive care units (ICUs) has been an area of controversy. There is a lack of recent research dealing with visits by children and physicians' views and whether differences exist between the views held by nurses and physicians regarding visits by children. The aim of this study was to describe and compare reasons given by nurses and physicians for restricting visits by children to a relative hospitalized in an adult ICU. This was a quantitative, descriptive multicentre study. Nurses and physicians (n= 291) at 72 general adult ICUs participated, each completing a questionnaire. A majority of the nurses and physicians were positive to children visiting patients in ICU, but they also imposed restrictions. The most common reasons were: severity of the patient's injury (50%); the environment was frightening for the child (50%); the infection risk for the child (36%) and the patient (56%). Children <7 years were restricted more than those >7 years. Nurses were more positive than physicians to visits by younger children. Physicians were more positive to visits if the patient was tired and critically ill/injured or was a friend/cousin. More physicians refused visits due to the fact that children are too noisy for the staff. Risks of negative effects on the children's health by visiting patients were also stated. Nurses and physicians still restrict children's visits to adult ICUs for a number of reasons, and nurses' and physicians' views on children visiting differ and so also the views within each professional group. The differences in views show that the dynamics are complicated and this could be attributed to a lack of a common view of care, which prevents family-centred care that includes children from being practised. [source]