Patient Safety
Verbal orders won’t necessarily go away after CPOE implementation
AMN Healthcare: “A new AHRQ-funded study found that of roughly 973,000 orders that physicians at a large, Midwestern hospital gave nurses over a 12-month period, roughly 20 percent were verbal orders. The hospital transitioned from a paper-based to computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system during the study period. The new study is one of the […]
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Deaths caused by postoperative hydration
ASHP: “ Standards Needed for Postoperative Hydration Therapy, ISMP Says – BETHESDA, MD 13 August 2009—Investigations into the deaths of two six-year-old children have prompted the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) to call for the establishment of standards of practice for i.v. hydration therapy in postoperative patients. According to today’s issue of ISMP Medication […]
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Is patient safety recession-proof?
AMNews: “Protecting patients from harm is medicine’s bedrock goal, but the resources required to do so have never come cheaply. With the recession taking its toll on the health sector, doctors and other medical professionals who have tackled problems ranging from hospital-acquired infections to patient falls find their efforts increasingly scrutinized on dollars-and-cents grounds. Ninety percent […]
Posted in Medication Safety | Tagged Patient Safety, Recession | Permalink | 2 Responses
Possible restriction on acetaminophen dosing
Medscape.com: “The FDA should put new restrictions on acetaminophen, an advisory committee recommended Tuesday, saying the move would protect people from the potential toxicity that can cause liver failure and even death.” – Acetaminophen (a.k.a. Tylenol) is a very safe medication. According to the article “billions of doses of acetaminophen are used safely every year.” […]
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NQF calls for pharmacists to take greater role in patient safety
HealthLeadersMedia.com: “Literature shows that when pharmacists are involved in care, the result is improved patient care, fewer adverse events, and reduced costs,” said Andrawis, speaking about Safe Practice 18. “But, in order for that full benefit to be realized, it’s really important that those pharmacists be given appropriate authority, and consequently that they continue to […]
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Insight into poor handwriting and why EHRs are important.
Florence dot com: “1. People who prescribe medications should use a system more sophisticated than the pine straw delivery guy’s [pen and paper] to communicate high-stakes drug information. 1,400 commonly prescribed drugs have names that look-alike or sound-alike. People can, and do, die when drug names are confused with one another. 2. Pharmacies should be able […]
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