Addressing Institutional Conflict of Interest to Promote Patient Safety
Addressing Institutional Conflict of Interest to Promote Patient Safety
Studies show that 67% of academic departments have financial relationships with industry (Campbell, 2007b). The Institute of Medicine has warned that academic institutions lack independent review, with resulting tolerance of conflicts due to financial gains, which may pose serious barriers to addressing the issue (IOM, 2009).
Information Exchange
Information Exchange
Riding the Cloud to Improve Patient Safety
After nearly 30 years as a practicing physician, I don’t have a day go by in my practice where a patient would not benefit from more timely availability of records from other institutions. Now, however, thanks to cloud computing, the delays and inappropriate repetitive testing attributable to unavailable records may finally be coming to an end. The limitation is no longer the technology itself but simply the speed of adoption.
ISMP
ISMP
Evidence-Based Medicine Doesn’t Preclude Common Sense
If you went skydiving, would you first ask for scientific evidence from a randomized trial that a properly functioning parachute prevents injury before you’d consider using one during your freefall? Hardly.
Health IT & Quality
Health IT & Quality
Show Me the Money
The most important lesson in medical care comes from a bank robber who stole more than $2 million and spent more than half his life in jail. Named for Willie Sutton, one of the most prolific bank robbers in history, Sutton’s law grew out of a famous response to a reporter’s question attributed (perhaps falsely) to Sutton.
Consumers as Partners
Consumers as Partners
How Patient-Provider Engagement Can Transform Patient Safety
How would the world change if, suddenly, clinicians had a highly motivated partner in carrying out each care plan? I propose that a new level of safety will be possible if we shift to a shared care plan model, with patients and families aware of the plan and engaged in its execution.
Editor’s Notebook
Editor’s Notebook
Ambulatory Practices Join the Conversation
Ambulatory practices find themselves in the patient safety spotlight with increasing frequency, for a number of reasons: more attention is being paid to diagnostic errors, which often trace back to physician practices; with implementation of electronic health records, more data will be available and analyzed for medical care delivered in ambulatory settings; and as improvement efforts in hospitals mature, it simply is time to bring more of healthcare into the safety conversation.
P.U.R.E. Conversations in Obstetrics
Raising SBAR to a Higher Level
P.U.R.E. Conversations in Obstetrics
Despite a widespread effort to improve patient safety in obstetrics, injuries still occur. These injuries can be devastating both to families who sustain them and to the caregivers involved in the actual event.
Prospective Risk Management
Prospective Risk Management
Analysis, Evaluation, and Control
The philosophy and requirements of ISO 14971 can be applied more broadly within the healthcare setting.
In medical device design and regulation, risk management has been embodied in the ISO 14971 standard: Medical Devices—Application of risk management to medical devices.Automated Informed Consent
Automated Informed Consent
Patients and Institutions Benefit Alike
The process of obtaining informed consent from patients prior to providing certain medical services has evolved gradually over the years.
Inside the AHA’s Product Endorsement Process
Inside the AHA’s Product Endorsement Process
Without a doubt, 2010 has proven to be one of the most dynamic years that the healthcare field has seen to date—and more changes are just around the corner. Healthcare reform is shaking up the field, impacting everyone from doctors and patients to hospitals, healthcare facilities, and medical technology vendors.