Tag: Harold Oglesby

Preventing Avoidable Deaths

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.

Continue reading “Preventing Avoidable Deaths” →

Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (December 2, 2016)

This week in #patientsafety, we look at the fact that opioid safety has yet again made the list of the ECRI Institute’s Top 10 Technology Hazards and we look at some key aspects of St. Joseph/Candler’s success in its continuous electronic monitoring program. From around the web, we share a video explaining how opioids cause harm and how their overprescription leads to drugs piling up in cupboards at home. We also share a story of a mother who died from blood clots – the coroner says her death was preventable.

From PPAHS:

Opioid Safety is again an ECRI Top-10 Health Technology Hazards for 2017. This is bittersweet. Bitter, because this problem is a major epidemic that has been going on for too long; sweet, because at least the topic is getting the attention it deserves.

Preventing Opioid-Related Adverse Events with Capnography. Continuous electronic monitoring has helped reduce serious adverse events related to opioid-induced respiratory depression at St. Joseph/Candler.

From Around the Web:

How the powerful opioid fentanyl kills. A video from the CBC explains how opioids work, and how they cause harm. Great for explaining the opioid epidemic to a lay audience.

Unused Opioids Pile Up in Medicine Cabinets, While Overprescribing Contributes to National Epidemic. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, have found that health care providers dispense far more medicine than is necessary to treat pain after pediatric outpatient surgery.

Mum who died of blood clots two weeks after giving birth could have been saved, finds coroner. Marie Tompkins died from a blood clot. The coroner says the doctor failed to refer her to a scan that could have detected it.

Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (November 25, 2016)

This week in #patientsafety, we shine the spotlight on respiratory therapists for all the work they do in keeping patients safe. We also look at whether bundled payments for hip and knee replacements are potentially risky when it comes to safe care. From around the web, we feature a great article highlighting stories of patients found “dead in bed”, possibly from providing too much pain medication (long-time PPAHS supporters will be familiar with most of these stories). Continue reading “Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (November 25, 2016)” →

Respiratory Therapists Are Integral to Reducing Opioid-Related Adverse Events

In a recent interview with Harold Oglesby, RRT, Manager, The Center for Pulmonary Health, Candler Hospital, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System (SJ/C), our discussion focused on the success factors that contributed to SJ/C’s 12 years free from opioid-related adverse events.

During the interview, Mr. Oglesby highlighted five key learnings from his experiences in implementing and continuously improving SJ/C’s QI initiative. One of these learnings was the importance of involving Respiratory Therapists (RT) throughout the process. Continue reading “Respiratory Therapists Are Integral to Reducing Opioid-Related Adverse Events” →

Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (November 11, 2016)

This week in #patientsafety, the PPAHS interviewed Harold Oglesby, RRT, to uncover the strategies implemented to keep the Candler Hospital, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System free from opioid-related adverse events for 12 years in a row. From around the web, we’ve found 3 articles highlighting national efforts to raise the bar in patient safety education and one on “routine” medical procedures that go wrong. Continue reading “Patient Safety Weekly Must Reads (November 11, 2016)” →

5 Keys to Successful Monitoring of Patients Receiving Opioids (Patient Safety & Healthcare Newsletter: – Harold Oglesby, RRT Discusses More Than 10 “Event Free” Years of Patient Safety)

5 Keys to Successful Monitoring of Patients Receiving Opioids

We wanted to know what are the keys to successful patient monitoring.

We could think of no better person to speak with than Harold Oglesby, RRT, Manager, The Center for Pulmonary Health, Candler Hospital, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System (SJ/C). Since June 2004, SJC has been more than 10 “event free” years of patient safety. Continue reading “5 Keys to Successful Monitoring of Patients Receiving Opioids (Patient Safety & Healthcare Newsletter: – Harold Oglesby, RRT Discusses More Than 10 “Event Free” Years of Patient Safety)” →

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)” →

A Decade of Excellence: Hospital Celebrates 10 “Event Free” Years of Patient Safety

By Briggs Adams (Editorial Manager, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

When the leader of St. Joseph’s/Candler Hospital respiratory therapy team was initially considering using capnography to monitor patients receiving opioids after surgery, he predicted the outcome would go in one of two ways.

“Quite honestly, we thought capnography was either going to be tremendously successful or a complete disaster,” said Harold Oglesby, Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT), Manager, The Center for Pulmonary Health, Candler Hospital, and St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System (SJ/C). Continue reading “A Decade of Excellence: Hospital Celebrates 10 “Event Free” Years of Patient Safety” →

Top Patient Safety Experts Explore Ways to Reduce Alarm Fatigue in Webinar

Alarm fatigue, which can occur when physicians and nurses become desensitized to clinical alarms, could be reduced by improving the training of clinicians and customizing the default settings on alarms used to monitor patients, leading opioid safety experts said in a recent webinar. Continue reading “Top Patient Safety Experts Explore Ways to Reduce Alarm Fatigue in Webinar” →