Promoting patient safety and improving the quality of patient care
Tag: pain management
By Patricia Iyer MSN RN LNCC
(Pat is a legal nurse consultant who provides education to healthcare providers about patient safety. She can be reached at patriciaiyer@gmail.com)
New evidence shows the patient receiving nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is at increased risk for developing a venous thromboembolism. NSAIDs are commonly prescribed for people with pain. Continue reading “Increased Risk of Blood Clots with NSAIDs Use”
By Sean Power
October 16, 2014
A recent article in The Lancet published findings that suggest mortality after non-cardiac surgery in Europe may be higher than expected.
Dr. Rupert Pearse and a team of researchers conducted the European Surgical Outcomes Study (EuSOS)—a study that spanned 28 European countries and included 498 hospitals—in an attempt to describe mortality after non cardiac surgery at a national and international level. Continue reading “8 Surprising Facts From a 7 Day Cohort Study: Mortality After Surgery”
No, contrary to what you may have heard, pain is not the 5th vital sign. It’s not a sign at all.
Vital signs are the following: heart rate; blood pressure; respiratory rate; temperature.
What do those four signs have in common?
They can be measured. Continue reading “Pain is not the “5th vital sign””
With the Labor Day weekend, there were fewer articles posted, likely because people were enjoying the remaining days of summer.
However, here are some interesting reads: Continue reading “Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Sep 4, 2014)”
by Sean Power
Researchers have found that the majority of adverse events that happen during opioid infusions in children occur in patients not being treated by clinicians in acute pain service, according to an article by Michael Vlessides in Anesthesiology News.
According to the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, many different types of procedures may require a patient who is a child to stay still or may cause them discomfort if no anesthesia is used. For example, procedures such as MRI scans require the child to be completely still to ensure adequate quality of the scans. Continue reading “Children Undergoing Sedation Need Better Monitoring”
By Sean Power and Michael Wong
This article is reprinted with the permission of Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH). Improving patient safety is one of the most urgent issues facing healthcare today. PSQH is written for and by people who are involved directly in improving patient safety and the quality of care. Continue reading “Patient Safety Checklist Helps Address Opioid Warnings from TJC: Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety checklist supports Sentinel Event Alert on opioid hazards”