Promoting patient safety and improving the quality of patient care
Tag: Patricia LaChance
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”
It’s National Healthcare Quality Week and National Respiratory Care Week!
However, according to Pascal metrics, there is no reason to celebrate. Studies show that a third of patients are harmed in U.S. hospitals and the consequent financial burden of this harm may run to over $100 billion annually. Continue reading “Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Oct 24, 2014)”
[Editor’s note: This article first appeared in The Doctor Weighs In. The team at Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety thank Pat for her tremendous courage and working with us on this tragic story of what happened to her husband. We hope that in this retelling, hospitals will be encouraged to ensure that similar events become “never events”.] Continue reading “Sleep Apnea + Opioids = Post-Surgical Preventable Death”
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”
American Society of Anesthesiologists guidelines for the perioperative management of obstructive sleep apnea provide a scoring system for perioperative risk for obstructive sleep apnea – but does such stratification harm patient safety?
By Kenneth P. Rothfield, M.D., M.B.A., Chairman, Department of Anesthesiology, Saint Agnes Hospital (Baltimore, MD)
The American Society of Anesthesiologists recently updated its practice guidelines for the perioperative management of obstructive sleep apnea (published February 2014). Continue reading “Risk Stratification of Sleep Apnea Patients – A Recipe for Death?”