Promoting patient safety and improving the quality of patient care
Tag: Leah Katherine Coufal
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety today issued the following statement encouraging the continuous electronic monitoring of all patients receiving opioids:
To improve patient safety and save patients’ lives, we recommend adopting continuous respiratory monitoring of all patients receiving opioids with pulse oximetry for oxygenation and with capnography for adequacy of ventilation to improve timely recognition of respiratory depression, decompensation or clinical deterioration.
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”
Katie Couric recently invited Lenore Alexander to appear on her show. Lenore is advicatibg for the passage of Leah’s Law and the mother of Leah, who tragically died in a series of avoidable medical errors following surgery. Continue reading “Leah’s Law and Katie Couric Show on Shocking Medical Mistakes”
by Michael Wong
(This article is reprinted with the permission of Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH).)
This is the question that I have been asking myself ever since Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced proposed quality measures it is considering for adoption through rule making for the Medicare program. Continue reading “Does CMS Proposed Measure for PCA Safety Go Far Enough?”
Lenore Alexander tells the story of her daughter Leah, whose life might have been saved had she been continuously electronically monitored.
by Lenore Alexander, active member of Mothers Against Medical Errors
“Would real-time monitoring have saved Leah?”
That is one of the many questions that I have asked myself every day since I found my daughter, Leah, dead in her hospital bed. Continue reading “Yes, Real-Time Monitoring Would Have Saved Leah”
by Michael Wong
Thank you, Dr. Val Jones and USA Today, for highlighting the tragic story of 11-year old Leah, who sadly died after elective surgery. Continue reading “USA Today Highlights Need For Continuous Electronic Monitoring”
Real time monitoring of the adequacy of ventilation (i.e. how much carbon dioxide a patient breathes out) could saved Leah’s life.
by Michael Wong
Real time monitoring of the adequacy of ventilation (i.e. how much carbon dioxide a patient breathes out) could save patients’ lives, recent research suggests.
Just ask Lenore Alexander, whose daughter Leah had elective surgery for pectus carinatum, a fairly common condition where the sternum protrudes forward caused by an overgrowth of cartilage. Continue reading “Would Real-Time Monitoring Have Saved Leah?”