Tag: sleep apnea

3 New Clinical Guidelines To Take Note of

Editor’s note: In this week’s must reads, we look at 3 new clinical guidelines and consider their impact on patient care.

Guideline for the Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

The newly released “Guideline for the Management of Patients With Atrial Fibrillation” is a game changer for the use of anticoagulants. In a report by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines and the Heart Rhythm Society, in Collaboration With the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, newer anticoagulants, known as non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs), are recommended over the traditional warfarin to prevent stroke in people with atrial fibrillation (AFib).

Continue reading “3 New Clinical Guidelines To Take Note of” →

Can Negligence Result in Safer Patient Care?

The recent jury finding that a Holy Family Hospital nurse was negligent in the care of Helen Marie Bousquet raises the question whether negligence can result in safer patient care.

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

According to recently released press release by the Estate of Helen Marie Bousquet:

“A jury in the Essex County Superior Court in Lawrence, Massachusetts found that a Steward Health Care owned Holy Family Hospital nurse was negligent in her care of Helen Marie Bousquet on Monday, Sept. 17.”

Helen Marie Bousquet tragically passed away after what has been described by her son, Brian Evans, singer and nominee for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district, as “a basic routine procedure” for knee surgery. Mr. Evans said that her tragic and avoidable death highlights the need for better assessment of patients for sleep apnea and for better treatment and monitoring of such patients before, during and after surgery.

Continue reading “Can Negligence Result in Safer Patient Care?” →

Hospitals to be Evaluated on Their Sleep Apnea Preparedness

Brian Evans, singer and nominee for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district, and the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) announce plans to evaluate hospitals on their sleep apnea preparedness.

Helen Marie Bousquet tragically passed away after what is being described by her son, Mr. Evans, as “a basic routine procedure” for knee surgery. Mr. Evans said that her tragic and avoidable death highlights the need for better assessment of patients for sleep apnea and for better treatment and monitoring of such patients before, during and after surgery.

Continue reading “Hospitals to be Evaluated on Their Sleep Apnea Preparedness” →

Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety and Health Care (July 31, 2015)

On our 4th Anniversary, we thought it very fitting that the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety begin our first public appeal for funds to help us continue with our mission to improve patient safety and health care (thank you for your tweets of support – @ADR_Rocks, @lzipperer, @BioAlliances, @PatientPro1st, @ehealthmgmt).

Help us ensure all patients receiving opioids are monitored. Choose your donation amount.

Help us ensure all patients receiving #opioids are monitored #ptsafety http://bit.ly/1JRzCvY Click To Tweet

The anniversary of Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety on July 27 will always be greeted with mixed emotions – both celebration and sadness (a shout out to those who tweeted well wishes – @Bi3PtSafety, @GetOnTopWithUs, @cardiovasc_bio, @BioAlliances, @GeratorTrdplc). Continue reading “Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety and Health Care (July 31, 2015)” →

Computer Decision Support Alerts Help Identify Patients with Previously Diagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Say Researchers

By Sean Power (Community Manager, Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety)

Patients are admitted to some hospitals with an unreported previous diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

That might be about to change thanks to computer decision support alerts, according to R. Scott Evans, PhD, and a team of researchers at Intermountain Medical Center, a 456-bed teaching hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. Continue reading “Computer Decision Support Alerts Help Identify Patients with Previously Diagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Say Researchers” →

Factors Related to Postoperative Respiratory Depression

by Bradley T. Truax, MD

(The Truax Group consults with hospitals to improve patient safety and procedures.)

Two of our most frequent topics have been opioid-induced postoperative respiratory depression and perioperative obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). See the extensive list of our prior columns at the end of today’s column. This past month there have been a number of significant articles pertinent to both conditions. Continue reading “Factors Related to Postoperative Respiratory Depression” →

Sleep Apnea + Opioids = Post-Surgical Preventable Death

[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” →

Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Sep 12, 2014)

News about the death of comedian John Rivers has dominated much of the healthcare news coverage. As with any celebrity incident, like this one, where there are still many questions the answers to which are not known or have not yet been made public, there has been a lot of speculation and conjecture, which may make it difficult to separate the sensationalist articles from the truly useful ones. So we offer a couple of articles that not only may help to shed light on what happened, but also offer good medical discussion and insight. Continue reading “Weekly Must Reads in Patient Safety (Sep 12, 2014)” →

Risk Stratification of Sleep Apnea Patients – A Recipe for Death?

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?” →