To honor the life of Amanda Abbiehl, who died after being connected to a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump on July 17, the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) calls for continuous electronic monitoring with pulse oximetry for oxygenation and with capnography for adequacy of ventilation. Continue reading “On the Fifth Death Anniversary of Amanda Abbiehl, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety Calls for Continuous Monitoring of Patients Receiving Opioids”
Tag: Dr Robert Stoelting
Top 10 Opioid Safety Articles in 2014
Of the more than 125 articles we posted in 2014, below are 10 of the most read and most discussed articles on opioid safety (order is by publication date).
As you read through these articles, please ask yourself – has a new standard of care been established requiring continuous electronic monitoring by hospitals of all patients receiving opioids? Continue reading “Top 10 Opioid Safety Articles in 2014”
Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Oct 17, 2014)
Monitoring is the catch word for this week’s must reads. It keeps patients safe and prevents avoidable patient harm. While St Joseph/Candler Hospital just celebrated 10 years of being “event free”, each year an estimated 20,800 to 678,000 patients managing their pain with patient-controlled analgesia will experience life-threatening, opioid-induced respiratory depression. If you are scared about asking your caregivers about monitoring, just say Dr. Robert Stoelting (President, Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation) told you to. Continue reading “Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Oct 17, 2014)”
Open Letter for Patient Safety and Use of Continuous Electronic Monitoring
In the story, “Hypoxia After Surgery Much More Common Than Previously Believed — Study finds high rate of prolonged bouts of desaturation on wards” (Anesthesiology News, March), Daniel Sessler, MD (Michael Cudahy Professor & Chair, Department of Outcomes Research, The Cleveland Clinic; Director, Outcomes Research Consortium) who helped conduct the study, described its results as “sobering.” Continue reading “Open Letter for Patient Safety and Use of Continuous Electronic Monitoring”
New CMS Guidance Recommends Monitoring of All Patients Receiving Opioids
By Michael Wong, JD (executive director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)
(This article first appeared in Becker’s Hospital Review.)
On March 14, 2014, CMS issued guidance “Requirements for Hospital Medication Administration, Particularly Intravenous (IV) Medications and Post-Operative Care of Patients Receiving IV Opioids.” Continue reading “New CMS Guidance Recommends Monitoring of All Patients Receiving Opioids”
Sedation and cataract surgery: A case for continuous electronic monitoring
By Michael Wong
“Inexplicably left alone.”
That, according to Jury Verdict Review & Analysis, is what happened to 68-year-old Marie Golubski after she was prepped and intravenously sedated for cataract surgery in June 2010. In other words, no anesthesiologist, no nurse or no ophthalmologist was present when Ms. Golubski slipped into respiratory depression. Continue reading “Sedation and cataract surgery: A case for continuous electronic monitoring”
Managing Risk with Patient-Controlled Analgesia: Recently Released Safety Checklist Addresses Joint Commission Concerns of Opioid-Related Adverse Events
The Risk Management Quarterly, the peer-reviewed journal for The Association for Healthcare Risk Management of New York, Inc. (the NY chapter of the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management), recently published in its Summer 2013 edition an article by Michael Wong, executive director of the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety, on managing risk with patient-controlled analgesia (PCA). Continue reading “Managing Risk with Patient-Controlled Analgesia: Recently Released Safety Checklist Addresses Joint Commission Concerns of Opioid-Related Adverse Events”
US Representative Keith Ellison Calls for Elimination of Preventable Deaths and Continuous Electronic Monitoring of All Post-Operative Patients Receiving Opioids
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. Continue reading “US Representative Keith Ellison Calls for Elimination of Preventable Deaths and Continuous Electronic Monitoring of All Post-Operative Patients Receiving Opioids”