Tag: respiratory compromise

Continuous Patient Monitoring Provides Early Detection of Respiratory Compromise

In a clinical education podcast produced by the Physician-Physician Alliance for Health Safety, Jeffrey S. Vender, MD. cautions that otherwise stable patients can quickly move down the dangerous path to respiratory compromise:

“There are numerous situations where patients with underlying pulmonary disease are in very chronic, but stable conditions. And, for a multitude of reasons, either a therapeutic intervention, the administration of pharmaceutical agents, in particular sedative agents and/or narcotics, as you’ve alluded to, or an underlying disease, like pneumonia, can make this stable respiratory condition and move it down the spectrum of patho-physiologic deterioration into respiratory compromise.”

Continue reading “Continuous Patient Monitoring Provides Early Detection of Respiratory Compromise” →

Is Respiratory Compromise The New “Sepsis”? An Interview with Jeffrey Vender, MD

Oct 26 update – The full podcast “Is Respiratory Compromise The New ‘Sepsis’?” can now be viewed at https://youtu.be/xmOpSZaBi1w. We had tried to have YouTube correct the previously upload which only played for 4 minutes, but they were unable to do that and so we have been forced to re-upload the podcast. We apologize again for any inconvenience that this may have caused you.

Oct 23 update – the podcast on YouTube is unfortunately only playing about 4 minutes of the more than 18 minute interview. We are working with YouTube to have this fixed as soon as possible. When this is fixed, we will post another update on this post. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety is pleased to announce the release of a clinical education podcast with Jeffrey Vender, MD.

Jeffrey S. Vender, MD is Clinical Professor at the University Of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. He is also Chairman of the clinical advisory committee to the Respiratory Compromise Institute.

#RespiratoryCompromise is The New “#Sepsis”? #patientsafety Share on X Continue reading “Is Respiratory Compromise The New “Sepsis”? An Interview with Jeffrey Vender, MD” →

Are Patients Receiving Opioids Safer Today Than 6 Years Ago?

Six years ago on July 27, 2011, I posted the first article on a free WordPress blog for the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety. It was titled “Is it possible to survive 96-minutes without a heart beat?”. Howard Snitzer, a man who suffered a heart attack survived after two volunteer paramedics responded and began a 96-minute CPR marathon. The ordeal involved 20 others, who took turns pumping his chest. This life-saving feat was only possible with the use of capnography readings, which told the volunteer paramedics that Howard was still alive and that they needed to continue their efforts.

Little would I know that that article would lead to an invitation by the University of Notre Dame and the beginnings of a 6-year friendship with the parents of Amanda Abbiehl. Amanda was admitted to hospital for “severe strep throat.” Continue reading “Are Patients Receiving Opioids Safer Today Than 6 Years Ago?” →

Remembering Amanda: 7 Years After An Opioid-Related Death

This weekend marked the 7th anniversary of Amanda Abbiehl’s tragic death. Her story continues to remind us of the need for continuous electronic monitoring for all patients receiving opioids.

Amanda was 18-years-old when she was admitted to hospital for a severe case of strep throat. To help her manage the pain, she was placed on a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump. The next morning, she was found unresponsive and died. Though PCA pumps are designed to deliver an exact dosage of opioid – in Amanda’s case, hydromorphone – getting the ‘right’ dosage is not a simple task. Too high a dosage can lead to respiratory depression, sometimes in minutes. Continue reading “Remembering Amanda: 7 Years After An Opioid-Related Death” →

Patients Receiving Opioids Must Be Monitored With Continuous Electronic Monitoring

The following is a position statement published by PPAHS. If you would prefer to view our statement as a PDF, please click here.

Much of the public attention has been focused on the harm caused by prescription use and abuse of opioids. However, there is another facet that must be focused on: opioid-induced respiratory depression in clinical settings. This includes patients undergoing moderate and conscious sedation, or recovering from procedures and managing pain using a patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump, particularly those during the postoperative period. Continue reading “Patients Receiving Opioids Must Be Monitored With Continuous Electronic Monitoring” →

Anesthesiology Standards Shouldn’t be Different in Hospital and Outpatient Settings

Written by Lynn Razzano RN, MSN, ONC-C (Clinical Nurse Consultant, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety).

When preventable medical errors occur, one of the very first questions asked by patients, families, the legal system, the press, and the public is: “were appropriate care standards met?”. As a professional Registered Nurse, I look at this question from a quality and patient safety perspective to ask what could have been done differently? What are the best practice medical standards, and why are they not applied across the US health care systems? How applicable should the medical standard of care be? And how do we, as clinicians and patient advocates, define the best practice standard of care?

The reality is that the definition of best practice and standard of care differs between acute care hospital settings and outpatient surgery centers. And, even then, the standard of care being applied by the ambulatory surgical center, anesthesiologist and the gastroenterologist may not be the same. Continue reading “Anesthesiology Standards Shouldn’t be Different in Hospital and Outpatient Settings” →

Tyler’s Story: A Deadly PCA Medical Error

Tyler was 18-years old when he was admitted to hospital for a pain in his chest.

It was a collapsed lung – the second time he had experienced one that year, and a condition that tall, young, slim males like Tyler can be prone to. To permanently correct the problem, Tyler underwent a procedure called pleurodesis, a common procedure to permanently prevent his lung from collapsing again. Upon the successful completion of the surgery, Tyler’s mother, Victoria Ireland said that she “breathed a sigh of relief”. Her son was going to be OK; all he needed to do was recover. Continue reading “Tyler’s Story: A Deadly PCA Medical Error” →

New Report on Preventing Respiratory Compromise in Vulnerable Patients

The Respiratory Compromise Institute (RCI) has recently published a new report titled “Respiratory Compromise as a New Paradigm for the Care of Vulnerable Hospitalized Patients”. PPAHS is a member of RCI, along with other health organizations such as the Society of Hospital Medicine, American Association for Respiratory Care, and CHEST/American College of Chest Physicians. Continue reading “New Report on Preventing Respiratory Compromise in Vulnerable Patients” →

Nine Minutes to Improving Opioid Safety: PPAHS Releases Patient Safety Video

The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) has released a YouTube video which discusses in nine minutes how to improve opioid safety. The video features highlights from over 10 hours of in-depth interviews released by PPAHS in 2016; altogether, the podcast series has generated over 130,000 cumulative views on YouTube. The podcast series brings together physicians, nurses, and respiratory therapists discussing how they have improved opioid safety in their hospitals.

According to Michael Wong, JD, Founder and Executive Director of PPAHS:

“In just nine minutes, the video summarizes experiences of clinicians in improving opioid safety in their hospital or healthcare facility, and reminds us of the tragic consequences of adverse events and deaths that may ensue if clinicians and healthcare executives are not proactive in promoting safety. We hope that the video will energize quality improvement and patient safety teams to strive to reduce adverse events and deaths related to opioid use.”

The opioid epidemic was one of the most heavily-covered, and hotly-debated, topic in patient safety covered in 2016. This dialogue has been mostly centered around the effects of ‘street’ use and abuse of prescription painkillers. In contrast, the PPAHS podcast series aims to highlight the preventable harm of opioid-induced respiratory depression during hospital procedures. Continue reading “Nine Minutes to Improving Opioid Safety: PPAHS Releases Patient Safety Video” →

SONORIA and PPAHS Announce Alliance to Improve Clinical Collaboration

The Society for Non OR Intervention and Anesthesia (SONORIA) and the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) are pleased to announce their new alliance focused on promoting safety and optimized outcomes for patients undergoing procedures outside of the Operating Room. Wendy Gross MD, President of SONORIA and Michael Wong JD, CEO and Executive Director of PPAHS have each agreed to serve as advisors to their respective organization’s Boards. Continue reading “SONORIA and PPAHS Announce Alliance to Improve Clinical Collaboration” →