Tag: Becker’s Hospital Review

Preventing Opioid-Induced Respiratory Distress In An Outpatient Setting

by Thomas W. Frederickson, MD, MBA, FACP, SFHM, Medical Director, Hospital Medicine, CHI Health

With the increasing volume of procedures being moved to outpatient settings, procedures and processes need to be in place to make ensure patient safety.

The Society of Hospital Medicine has released a set of guidelines to reduce opioid-related adverse events in a clinical setting titled the Reducing Adverse Drug Events related to Opioids (RADEO) Implementation Guide. I had the pleasure of leading the expert panel tasked with developing the guide. The manual is designed as a resource to help clinicians successfully implement a quality improvement program.

In this article, I want to focus on some key precautions to take during procedures in the outpatient setting, as well as upon patient discharge.

Read the full article on Becker’s Hospital Review.

Medical standards of care and the Joan Rivers death

By Michael Wong, JD (Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety), Frank Overdyk, MSEE, MD (Professor of Anesthesiology, Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine), Lynn Razzano, RN, MSN, ONCC (Clinical Nurse Consultant, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety), Kenneth P. Rothfield, MD, MBA (Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at Ascension Health’s Saint Agnes Hospital, Baltimore; Adjunct Associate Professor of Nursing at the University of Maryland; soon assuming role of System Chief Medical Officer, St. Vincent’s Healthcare)

When medical tragedies occur, one of the very first questions asked by patients, families, the legal system, the press, and the public is: “were appropriate care standards met?” Continue reading “Medical standards of care and the Joan Rivers death” →

Recurrent Stroke Victims’ Stories Illustrate Need for New Treatment Guidelines

By Michael Wong, JD, Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety

(This article was first printed in Becker’s Hospital Review. What follows is just an excerpt. To read the full article, please click here.)

Heart-rending cases like that of Steven Spence — a 68-year-old man who suffered a second stroke in his home only hours after being treated for his first one in a hospital — underscore the urgent need to create new standards for in-hospital and transition-of-care treatment of stroke patients, advocated by neurological health and patient safety experts. Continue reading “Recurrent Stroke Victims’ Stories Illustrate Need for New Treatment Guidelines” →