Tag: premier safety institute

Sepsis Protocols Need Improving to Prevent Complications of Care

Editor’s Note: This editorial from the desk of PPAHS’s Executive Director encourages sepsis protocols to be revising to prevent complications of care.

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder and Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

Patients go into hospital expecting to get “fixed” – to have whatever ails them to be treated. This is what we go to doctors for. In fact, this is what we go to any expert for – we go to lawyers to handle our legal problems, accountants to handle our accounting problems, doctors to handle our health problems.

Therefore, to go into hospital and contract another ailment – one unrelated to what we went in for – is concerning. For the patient, it means having to deal with this second ailment, including the related extra time, expense, and pain and suffering that that entails. For the physician, it means that something has been done or not done that has resulted in the patient getting ailment number two.

Continue reading “Sepsis Protocols Need Improving to Prevent Complications of Care” →

Memories of Gina Pugliese – A Relentless Advocate for Patient Safety

Editor’s Note: In this article, Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety) remembers Gina Pugliese and remembers how she pushed him to do more for patient safety.

By Michael Wong, JD (Founder/Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

It is with great sadness that I learned that Gina Pugliese passed away on March 4, 2019, after a long battle with cancer.

Continue reading “Memories of Gina Pugliese – A Relentless Advocate for Patient Safety” →

The Vital Role Nurses Play in Patient Care

Written by Michael Wong, JD, Founder & Executive Director of PPAHS

As founder and executive director PPAHS, when I speak at conferences about the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety support for continuous electronic monitoring of patients receiving opioids, I am often asked two questions:

  • Is PPAHS suggesting or recommending that technology replace nurses?
  • Why has continuous monitoring been so slow to be adopted by hospitals?

Continue reading “The Vital Role Nurses Play in Patient Care” →

Two Practices to Adopt After Pediatric Opioid Trial Halted

By Michael Wong, JD (Executive Director, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

With more than 500,000 pediatric tonsillectomies performed each year in the United States, removal of tonsils is one of the most common surgeries performed on children. According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, tonsillectomy is performed 20 percent for infection and 80 percent for obstructive sleep apnea. Continue reading “Two Practices to Adopt After Pediatric Opioid Trial Halted” →

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)” →

Health Experts Say Continuous Monitoring of Post-Surgical Patients Receiving Opioids Should Be Standard

Continuous electronic monitoring of patients receiving opioids to manage their pain after surgery should be a standard of care, leading health experts said during a recent webinar. The March 4, 2014 webinar was hosted Premier Safety Institute as part of their Advisor Live series.

“There is no doubt that patients who have either sedation or postoperative pain management do require some sort of monitoring,” said Bhavani S. Kodali, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Anesthesiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Continue reading “Health Experts Say Continuous Monitoring of Post-Surgical Patients Receiving Opioids Should Be Standard” →

Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety Announces Four Essentials for Safety for Patients Receiving Opioids

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS), an advocacy group of physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, healthcare organizations and patient safety advocacy groups, recently released four essentials for patient safety. Continue reading “Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety Announces Four Essentials for Safety for Patients Receiving Opioids” →

Patient Safety Experts Share 4 Insights About Safer Opioid Pain Management

by Sean Power

Patient safety experts recently participated in a webinar on reducing adverse drug events and harm associated with postoperative opioid pain management programs. Premier Safety Institute, an organization dedicated to coordinating safety-related activities among national organizations to help improve safety, hosted the webinar.

The panel featured four patient safety experts: Continue reading “Patient Safety Experts Share 4 Insights About Safer Opioid Pain Management” →