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Could Medical Device Security Depend Upon Clinicians?

For nearly a decade, healthcare professionals and medical device manufacturers have been aware that medical devices, including insulin pumps and pacemakers, can be hacked. While some strides have been made in securing these types of devices, the growing interconnectivity of smart medical devices continues to outpace security.

Safety Enhancements Every Hospital Must Consider in Wake of Another Tragic Neuromuscular Blocker Event

This type of error could happen anywhere given current system vulnerabilities frequently found in hospitals, particularly when using automated dispensing cabinets. In fact, ISMP has observed many of the same system vulnerabilities in other hospitals, and they are frequently at the root of a variety of medication errors reported to the ISMP National Medication Errors Reporting Program.

Industry Focus—Infection Control: Examine Your Dialysis Space to Ensure Room to Separate Infectious Patients

Among other infection control practices for hemodialysis, surveyors will be observing water and dialysate testing, medication storage, preparation and administration, and “patient placement in full view of staff during dialysis treatment,” according to a Joint Commission official.

Industry Focus—Culture of Safety: Just Culture…It’s Much More Than an Algorithm

In a high-reliability culture, a paradigm exists that simply states that it is not realistic to expect zero human error. Human error is ubiquitous; it is inevitable. As much as we dictate policy and guidelines, as much as we practice and train, humans will commit errors; it is a constant.

Lessons Learned From a Death Outside a Hospital’s Doorstep

DeMarco's refusal to accept the hospital’s silence, a desire for accountability, and ultimately a simple request for the hospital’s administration to sit down with him and apologize for the mistakes made were enough to make the hospital change its ways.

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APIC Honors Members With Service Awards
by PSQH, June 12, 2019

The APIC conference aims to provide infection preventionists, physicians, researchers, epidemiologists, educators, administrators, and medical technologists with strategies that can be implemented immediately to improve prevention programs and make healthcare safer.
Medical Errors: How Healthcare Providers Can Address Long-Term Harm
by HealthLeaders Media, June 12, 2019

Estimates of annual patient deaths due to medical errors have since risen steadily to 440,000 lives, which would make medical errors the country’s third-leading cause of death.
Incivility in Operating Rooms Associated with Diminished Clinical Performance
by HealthLeaders Media, June 10, 2019

The recent research published in BMJ Quality & Safety exposed anesthesiology residents to an impatient surgeon-actor in a simulated OR hemorrhage scenario.
Antibiotics Delay in Treatment of ER Sepsis Patients Linked to Increased Mortality
by HealthLeaders Media, June 7, 2019

The recent research published in CHEST associated each additional hour from emergency room arrival to antibiotic administration to 10% increased odds of 1-year mortality.
The State of the Emergency Nurse Workforce
by HealthLeaders Media, June 6, 2019

The new study took a comprehensive and detailed look at the characteristics of emergency, trauma, and transport nurses and the challenges they face.

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Could Medical Device Security Depend Upon Clinicians?

AI: Augmented Intelligence or Electric Sheep?

Safety Enhancements Every Hospital Must Consider in Wake of Another Tragic Neuromuscular Blocker Event

Industry Focus—Infection Control: Examine Your Dialysis Space to Ensure Room to Separate Infectious Patients

Industry Focus—Culture of Safety: Just Culture…It’s Much More Than an Algorithm

Lessons Learned From a Death Outside a Hospital’s Doorstep

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