Drug Shortages and Emergency Care: Your Action Is Needed
EMPSF
Drug Shortages and Emergency Care: Your Action Is Needed
An unprecedented, unexpected, and unplanned shortage of emergency medications has resulted in a quickly expanding set of problems for emergency departments (EDs) and emergency medical services (EMS) systems. The causes of this shortage are poorly understood, but the manufacturers and federal agencies that oversee drug supply and manufacturing practices—Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)—have been at odds for the past few years over safe manufacturing and quality processes. In certain circumstances, problems in the supply chain for raw materials for drugs cause shortages; for example, some raw materials come from overseas sources and may be subject to factors such as wars, weather, and problems with supply. Medication shortages are affecting many specialties, including oncology and anesthesia, but the emergency care system is particularly at risk for patient safety issues.
SIDM and Cautious Patient Foundation Collaborate to Avoid Diagnostic Errors
The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) and the Cautious Patient Foundation have announced a collaboration to help patients avoid diagnostic errors in their own care. Diagnostic error, defined as wrong, missed or delayed medical diagnosis, occurs in 10% to 15% of diagnostic encounters, is the largest contributor to medical malpractice claims, and is responsible for 40,000 – 80,000 deaths per year in the United States.
The ‘Big Universe’ of Diagnostic Error
Editor’s Notebook
The ‘Big Universe’ of Diagnostic Error
Patient safety advocates look forward to the day when principles they currently pursue as part of a directed agenda infuse the practice of medicine extensively, resulting in less need for advocacy, remedial training, and re-engineering because patient safety is baked into the culture of medicine.
Key Characteristics of Successful Leaders
Lean Transformation
Key Characteristics of Successful Leaders
Replacing senior leaders in an organization is never easy. With a board of directors and other top executives having invested a lot of time and money in supporting the former leader, now they face the difficult task of replacing that knowledge and experience with a leader who will help advance the organization into the future. Finding effective leaders is different today than it might have been in the past, but there are certain, proven criteria organizations should consider using to find the right people.
Sterile Compounding Tragedy: Symptom of a Broken System
ISMP
Sterile Compounding Tragedy: Symptom of a Broken System
In the wake of the current multistate meningitis outbreak (www.cdc.gov/HAI/outbreaks/meningitis.html), ISMP wishes to express its deepest sympathy to all affected by the contamination of compounded products from a New England compounding pharmacy. This is certainly a tragedy of monumental proportions.
Surprise! Patient safety can learn from the trades as well as from aviation.
Over the last few months, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know one of the Coalition’s new individual members, Gary Fasso, and have been learning from what may seem an unlikely source of wisdom about patient safety: the trades. Gary is with the Pacific Northwest Council of Carpenters and trains the members in safe practices for when they are working in occupied healthcare buildings (e.g., remodeling hospitals or clinics). I’m learning so much from him about what is transferable from construction to healthcare.
MITSS Honors Thomas Gallagher, MD, with HOPE Award at Annual Dinner
Among the events I look forward to each fall, the MITSS Annual Dinner holds a special place because of the loyal and diverse community of people who gather to support and celebrate the work of Linda Kenney, Winnie Tobin, and many others who pursue the MITSS mission, to “support healing and restore hope to patients, families, and clinicians impacted by adverse medical events.” At this year’s dinner (the 11th annual), held Thurs., Nov. 29, in Boston, MITSS honored Thomas Gallagher, MD, with the HOPE Award, given each year to Honor Outstanding People Everywhere who have furthered MITSS’s mission. Sanjay Malaviya, president and CEO of RL Solutions, the award sponsor, presented Dr. Gallagher with this year’s honor.
The Joint Commission Publishes Patient and Worker Safety Monograph
The Joint Commission recently released a free monograph, “Improving Patient and Worker Safety: Opportunities for Synergy, Collaboration and Innovation,” to draw attention to the need to create a culture that focuses on both the safety of patients and the health care workers who care for them.
CareFusion Launches New Preoperative Cleansing Program For In-Home Patient Use
CareFusion Corp., a leading, global medical technology company, has unveiled a new preoperative cleansing program for patients that includes an industry-first, individualized reminder program that helps patients remember and follow a clinician’s preoperative bathing instructions.