Tag: Dr Andrew Kofke

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

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 errors certainly occur, both in programming and in delivery, but any published estimate is likely to be only the tip of the iceberg.” Continue reading “Reducing Errors by More than 60 Percent: PPAHS Presents at the Northern Regional Respiratory Care Conference” →

5 Questions Answered about Never Events and Patient-Controlled Analgesia Pumps

by Sean Power

What are Never Events?

Never Events are 28 preventable actions or mistakes that should never happen in a health care setting, which include: Continue reading “5 Questions Answered about Never Events and Patient-Controlled Analgesia Pumps” →

How to Prevent ‘Dead-in-Bed’ Syndrome With Patients After Surgery: Q&A With Physician Experts and PPAHS

PPAHS is developing a checklist that would reinforce the need for continuous electronic monitoring for oxygenation with pulse oximetry and ventilation with capnography to help prevent so-called “dead in bed” syndrome.

by Rob Kurtz (Editor in Chief, Becker’s ASC Review)

[With permission of ASC Review this article has been reprinted here. Copyright ASC Communications. For the original article, please click here.]

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS), an advocacy group devoted to improving patient health and safety, has recently announced it is putting together a working group to create a checklist targeted towards patient-controlled analgesia (PCA).

This checklist would reinforce the need for continuous electronic monitoring for oxygenation with pulse oximetry and ventilation with capnography to help prevent so-called “dead in bed” syndrome. Continue reading “How to Prevent ‘Dead-in-Bed’ Syndrome With Patients After Surgery: Q&A With Physician Experts and PPAHS” →

Preventing “Dead In Bed Syndrome” with Patients After Surgery

Survey found that a patient safety checklist may help prevent “dead In bed” syndrome.

by Michael Wong

In our recently conducted survey among healthcare providers, almost all the respondents (85%) favor the development and use of safety checklists.

Because of this strong desire of healthcare professionals to have a checklist, PPAHS is putting together a working group to create a checklist targeted towards patient-controlled analgesia. This checklist would reinforce the need for continuous electronic monitoring for oxygenation and ventilation. Continue reading “Preventing “Dead In Bed Syndrome” with Patients After Surgery” →