Promoting patient safety and improving the quality of patient care
Category: Patient Safety
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety released a clinical education podcast – Selecting Patient Monitoring Systems.
“We are often asked by our clinical followers what patient monitoring systems that we would recommend,” said Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executives Director). “To help with their decision making process, we have produced a clinical education podcast to provide some guidance on selecting patient monitoring devices.”
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) announced its intention to broaden its discussion of respiratory compromise to include non-opioid-related issues and COPD’s role in respiratory compromise.
Michael Wong, JD (Founder and Executive Director, PPAHS) explained that a discussion of COPD’s role in respiratory compromise is a natural progression of PPAHS initiative in growing awareness of this critical patient safety issue:
In a clinical education podcast, Frank Overdyk, MD, who is an anesthesiologist practicing in Charleston, SC, discusses preventing avoidable deaths and the costs of monitoring patients receiving opioids and the costs of not being monitored. It is impossible to predict with 100% accuracy how a particular patient will react when administered an opioid. Continuous patient monitoring, which costs just $20-$30 per day in the case of monitoring with pulse oximetry, is a small price to pay to help prevent avoidable patient deaths.
By Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)
I recently interviewed Frank Overdyk, MD, who is an anesthesiologist practicing in Charleston, SC, about the costs of monitoring patients receiving opioids and the costs of not being monitored. Dr. Overdyk is a member of board of advisors of the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety and organized the two conferences on opioid-induced respiratory depression (“OIRD”) for the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation.
Although we have read many articles this past week of March 5, 2018, we would like to focus on one in particular about how surgery centers can be deadly.
In a recent investigation by Kaiser News and USA Today, surgery centers may be putting profits ahead of patient safety:
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) announced that it intends to host a Guide to Patient Monitoring, Improved Patient Safety and Outcomes.
PPAHS has developed a standard set of questions and provided these questions to all manufacturers of patient monitoring equipment of which PPAHS is aware. The Guide will contain answers by the medical affairs department of manufacturers of patient monitoring devices.
Articles we have been reading this past week of February 26, 2018 suggest that doing these activities could be dangerous to your health
Continue reading “These Activities Could be Dangerous to Your Health”
This article discusses why preventing the flu is not just good for the individual, but also for the community – there are public health implications on preventing the flu.
By Jennifer Dawson
Americans are not doing everything possible when it comes to preventative health care. According to the CDC, over half of all Americans avoid doctors and dentists on a regular basis, which is raising the cost of health care for everyone. Further, the absence of preventative health care is causing diseases such as diabetes, to rise unnecessarily. While it may seem that Americans might be substituting medical care for natural remedies, this is also not the truth. When we participate in regular health care visits, as well as organic care, we help build healthier communities and prevent a hike in national health care costs. We must stop using emergency rooms for primary health care, and we must maintain a working relationship with a regular doctor. We must also maintain self care through organic means between visits.
Articles we have been reading this past week of February 19, 2018 made us ask ourselves whether recent healthcare decisions are reasonable. What do you think?
Continue reading “Are These Healthcare Decisions Reasonable or Do They put Patients At-Risk?”
In this article, Cal Cook (Consumer Finance Investigator, ConsumerSafety.Org) cautions patients about the prescription drug side effects, and particularly “black box” warnings. It’s up to the doctor’s discretion to determine whether the benefits outweigh the side effects for the patient’s individual situation.
By Cal Cook (Consumer Finance Investigator, ConsumerSafety.Org) investigates and writes about consumer-focused topics including finance, scams and safety. His passion lies in exposing fraud across all industries to protect consumers.
A “black box” warning is a boxed warning on a prescription drug label that indicates the drug can have seriously harmful side effects. This is the most severe type of warning by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). According to prescription drug retailer Walgreen’s, this warning is only used “when there is reasonable evidence of an association of a serious hazard with the drug.” There are certainly instances when it’s helpful to give such drugs to patients, but it’s up to the doctor’s discretion to determine whether the benefits outweigh the side effects for the patient’s individual situation.
Continue reading “How to Keep Patients Safe From Harmful Prescription Drug Side Effects”