Are Alerts and Alarms Contributing to Hospital Mistakes?
Hospitals are increasingly using electronic patient records and other technologies that can alert doctors, nurses and other staff to patient emergencies or other events. Doctors are bombarded with reminders on their smartphones, email popups to attend meetings and electronic patient records that warn of dangerous medication interactions or allergies. The alerts are so frequent that… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Malpractice
Hospital Horror Stories: When CT Scans Go Wrong
Computerized tomography scans, also known as CT scans, use X-ray images from different angles to give highly accurate and visual imaging of soft tissues, bones and blood vessels. This widely used diagnostic test is one of the most accurate available, but it does come with some risks. We have previously covered blogs discussing how CT… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Negligence
Are Overcrowded Emergency Rooms a Threat to Patient Safety?
Overcrowded emergency rooms can put patients at risk of death or injury from medical mistakes. Many of the common causes of medical mistakes, such as signoff errors, poor communication or failure to double-check work may be more likely to occur when health care providers are rushing between patients in crowded emergency rooms. Crowded emergency departments… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Negligence
Are Doctors More Prone to Medical Mistakes During Residency?
A medical malpractice lawsuit filed against Yale-New Haven Hospital raises some important questions on whether doctors undergoing training can be a threat to patient safety. The lawsuit claims a doctor still in his residency removed the wrong body part from a patient, one of the worst mistakes possible. Why was his patient so upset? The… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Malpractice
Are Cyberattacks Putting Patient Safety at Risk?
One of the greatest dangers facing patient safety can be found over the internet. There have been recent cases of hospital computers being hacked. Hackers take control of hospital computer systems and then demand a ransom. The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center was the most recent target of hackers. According to the hospital, hackers scrambled patient… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Malpractice
3 Common Nursing Errors that Harm Patients
Nurses are hospital staff members most likely to spend an extended amount of time with patients. Unfortunately, nurses are notoriously overworked, often caring for multiple patients at once. There is only so much a person can do, so nursing errors are bound to happen. Sometimes these mistakes can have deadly consequences for patients. Medication Errors:… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Malpractice
Hospital Nightmares: Can I Get a Disease From A Donated Organ?
Donor organs are responsible for saving thousands of lives every year. However, donor organs can sometimes hide significant dangers, such as diseases and malignancies (cancer). If organ donors are improperly screened for conditions like hepatitis C or rabies, future patients can die or suffer permanent health effects. According to the Centers for Disease Control, only… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Malpractice
Does Poverty Affect Quality of Care in Hospitals?
Access to quality health care has been a longstanding problem in America, but the issue is more severe for people with less income. Recent research suggests people living in poorer urban areas of the country have a more difficult time receiving care at hospitals. An article published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette shows us the magnitude… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Malpractice
How Hospital Labeling Errors Can Threaten Patient Safety
When hospital lab tests and medications are improperly labeled, patient safety can become severely affected. Labeling errors can lead to diagnostic mistakes and adverse drug reactions. For some patients, the consequences of labeling errors cause permanent injuries or death. Medication errors: We recently wrote a blog on how medication errors are present in 50 percent… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Medical Malpractice
Why Hospital Transparency is Vital to Patient Safety
Patients have a right to know the safety records of their doctors before undergoing medical treatment. Hospitals rigorously investigate medical errors, but do not make specific information on who is at fault public. For example, a patient may be unable to see if the surgeon who performed his or her heart surgery has committed prior… Read more »
Tags: HospitalSafety
Posted in Uncategorized
