Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety

Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety Announces Four Essentials for Safety for Patients Receiving Opioids

May 16, 2013
by Michael Wong

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS), an advocacy group of physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, healthcare organizations and patient safety advocacy groups, recently released four essentials for patient safety. These four essentials for patient safety were recently discussed on a webinar on reducing adverse drug events and harm associated with postoperative opioid pain management […]

Tagged: A Promise to Amanda, Amanda Abbiehl, Brian Abbiehl, Cindy Abbiehl, Patient Safety, Patient-Controlled Analgesia, PCA, premier safety institute

Posted in: Patient Safety, Patient-Controlled Analgesics, PCA

Patient Safety Experts Share 4 Insights About Safer Opioid Pain Management

May 13, 2013
by Sean Power

Chris Pasero shares her recipe for disaster and advocates for multi-modal pain management programs.

by Sean Power Patient safety experts recently participated in a webinar on reducing adverse drug events and harm associated with postoperative opioid pain management programs. Premier Safety Institute, an organization dedicated to coordinating safety-related activities among national organizations to help improve safety, hosted the webinar. The panel featured four patient safety experts: Chris Pasero, MS, […]

Tagged: adverse drug events, Capnography, multi-modal pain management, opioid induced respiratory depression, opioid pain management, opioid related respiratory depression incidence rate, pca pumps, premier safety institute, promise to amanda, Pulse Oximetry, respiratory monitoring, st. joseph candler hospitals, The Joint Commission

Posted in: Capnography, Monitoring Liability and Costs, Patient Safety, Patient-Controlled Analgesics, PCA, Post-Operative Monitoring, Postoperative Pain

Reducing Errors by More than 60 Percent: PPAHS Presents at the Northern Regional Respiratory Care Conference

May 10, 2013
by Sean Power

PCA errors certainly occur, both in programming and in delivery, but any published estimate is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg.”
Dr Richard Dutton
Executive Director
Anesthesia Quality Institute

by Sean Power Last week, the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety presented two cases in which health care facilities reduced PCA-related adverse drug events with continuous electronic monitoring. Experts estimate that anywhere from 600,000 to 2,000,000 PCA errors occur each year. As Dr. Richard Dutton, Executive Director of the Anesthesia Quality Institute, states, “PCA […]

Tagged: Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF), Bryanne Patail, continuous electronic monitoring, Dr Andrew Kofke, Frank Federico, PCA, PCA safety checklist

Posted in: APSF, Capnography, Monitoring Liability and Costs, Patient Safety, Patient-Controlled Analgesics, PCA, Post-Operative Monitoring

The Doctor Weighs In Highlights Benefits of Safety Checklists

May 6, 2013
by Sean Power

Earlier today, the popular healthcare blog The Doctor Weighs In featured an article by the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety on the benefits of safety checklists. The article calls attention to five benefits of safety checklists in healthcare settings: Checklists provide a sense of confidence that you’ve taken all the right steps. Checklists are […]

Tagged: checklists, evidence-based research, litigation costs, medical mistakes, PCA, PCA safety checklist, technical solutions, the doctor weighs in

Posted in: Patient Safety, Patient-Controlled Analgesics, PCA, Post-Operative Monitoring, Postoperative Pain

Preventing Death Following Cesarean Delivery

May 2, 2013
by Michael Wong

A recent study of almost 400,000 pregnancies reveals risk factors for blood clots in pregnant and postnatal woman. In the study published in the American Society of Hematology journal Blood, researchers analyzed the pregnancies of women aged between 15 and 44 between January 1995 and July 2009. The study “Risk Factors for First Venous Thromboembolism […]

Tagged: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), cesarean delivery, Dr Andra James, Dr John Keats, Dr Matthew Grainge, Venous Thromboembolism, VTE

Posted in: Patient Safety, VTE

Memorial Hospital Makes a Promise to Amanda to Continuously Electronically Monitor Opioid Patients with Capnography

April 30, 2013
by Michael Wong

NBC-affiliate WNDU recently reported that Memorial Hospital of South Bend in Indiana has fulfilled A Promise to Amanda. Starting this month, every patient who receives opioids or sedation on every floor at Memorial Hospital will be continuously electronically monitored with capnography. Eighteen-year-old Amanda Abbiehl tragically died in 2010 when connected to a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) […]

Tagged: A Promise to Amanda, Amanda Abbiehl, Dr Cheryl Wibbens, Dr Peter Pronovost, Memorial Hospital, Patient-Controlled Analgesia, PCA, WNDU

Posted in: Capnography, Patient Safety, Patient Stories, Patient-Controlled Analgesics, PCA

US Representative Keith Ellison Calls for Elimination of Preventable Deaths and Continuous Electronic Monitoring of All Post-Operative Patients Receiving Opioids

April 24, 2013
by Michael Wong

US Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN), Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Chief Deputy Whip, recently urged the US House of Representatives to work to prevent patient deaths. To view the CSPAN video, please click here. 98,000 people died from preventable deaths in 1998. “In 1998, statistics show that about 98,000 people a year died […]

Tagged: Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF), APSF, Capnography, continuous electronic monitoring, Dr Robert Stoelting, Keith Ellison, Leah Koufal, Pulse Oximetry

Posted in: Capnography, Post-Operative Monitoring