patient safety

Health & Safety

Several 'Best' U.S. Hospitals Penalized Over Too-High Rates Of Infection, Injury

5:00am January 31, 2020

by Jordan Rau

Medicare is cutting payments to 786 hospitals with the highest infection and complication rates. The list includes a third of the hospitals proclaimed as the nation's "best" in one prominent ranking.

Just as sleep deprivation has been shown to impair cognition, so too has it been found to dampen empathy for others.

Health & Safety

Opinion: Keep Limits Intact On Medical Residents' Work Hours

2:19pm May 10, 2019

by Clayton Dalton

Caps on shift lengths for medical residents were implemented to improve patient safety. Given the effects of sleep deprivation on emotional capacity and residents' well-being, why risk longer hours?

RaDonda Vaught appears at a court hearing with her attorney, Peter Strianse, in February. Vaught, a former nurse at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was charged with reckless homicide after a medication error killed a patient.

Health & Safety

When A Nurse Is Prosecuted For A Fatal Medical Mistake, Does It Make Medicine Safer?

11:50am April 10, 2019

by Mara Gordon

A nurse was charged with reckless homicide and abuse after mistakenly giving a patient a fatal dose of the wrong medicine. Patient safety experts say this may actually make hospitals less safe.

Contrast agent, a drug that enhances CT scans, is sometimes skipped because of concerns about side effects.

Health & Safety

Are The Risks Of Drugs That Enhance Imaging Tests Overblown?

12:10pm March 23, 2019

by Clayton Dalton

A contrast agent doesn't make you feel better or treat what's ailing you. But by making CT scans clearer, contrast might be crucial in helping your doctor make the right diagnosis.

Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb tweeted Tuesday that he is ready to implement a right-to-try law "in a way that achieves Congress' intent to promote access and protect patients."

Health & Safety

Right To Try Act Poses Big Challenge For FDA

2:38pm May 24, 2018

by Michael D. Becker

Legislation that would give terminally ill people a direct path to get experimental treatments raises questions about how the Food and Drug Administration would safeguard patients.

A proposed change in work rules would let first-year residents care for patients for up to 28 hours without getting a chance to sleep.

Medical Interns Could Work Longer Without A Break Under New Rule

6:31pm November 04, 2016

by Rob Stein

A proposed change in work rules would let first-year residents care for patients for as many as 28 hours straight, scrapping a 16-hour limit. Supporters say longer shifts would improve patient safety.

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After several prominent safety problems with medical devices in hospitals emerged, the Food and Drug Administration inspected 17 hospitals across the country in late 2015 to assess their compliance with reporting regulations.

FDA Faults Hospitals For Failing To Report Safety Problems With Medical Devices

2:57pm October 28, 2016

by Chad Terhune

The Food and Drug Administration found several prominent facilities hadn't followed rules on reporting incidents in which patients died or were harmed. The problem is thought to be widespread.

A new rule by an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services preserves the right of patients and families to sue nursing homes in court.

New Rule Preserves Patients' Rights To Sue Nursing Homes In Court

4:03pm September 29, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

A new rule is the most significant overhaul of federal funding regulations for nursing homes in more than two decades. It also requires "nourishing, palatable" food and infection-control plans.

Dr. Lars Aanning, seen at his home outside Yankton, S.D., said he lied to protect a colleague in a malpractice case. Now, Aanning is a patient safety advocate.

Health & Safety

Doctor Confesses: I Lied To Protect Colleague In Malpractice Suit

9:36am September 23, 2016

by Marshall Allen

A surgeon who lied on the witness stand about his partner's skills is haunted by the deception nearly two decades later. Now retired from medicine, the regretful witness is a patient advocate.

The aim is to make clinical trial data available to volunteers and scientists, even if a drug or therapy being tested turns out to be a failure. That could help identify serious side effects.

HHS Issues New Rules To Open Up Data From Clinical Trials

6:41pm September 16, 2016

by Richard Harris

The aim is to make clinical trial data available to volunteers and scientists, even if a drug or therapy being tested turns out to be a failure. That could help identify serious side effects.

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