If you receive a sudden blow to the head, your first reaction may be to seek emergency treatment. In some cases, patients wait days after a head injury to see their regular doctor, hoping the pain doesn’t get worse. But which health care provider is…
Donna Kinney fell in her RV. Initially diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder, she was subsequently told that she needed a partial shoulder replacement. Off to the Operating Room During surgery, the surgical nurse placed the oxygen tube incorrectly. Donna received too much oxygen, making her…
Incorrect copying and pasting of notes on a patient’s electronic health care chart, sometimes called “sloppy and paste” instead of “copy and paste,” is allegedly widespread and can result in harm to patients, according to recent research published in this month’s Critical Care Magazine. What’s…
Many professionals, such as airline pilots, have checklists available to help them with emergency life-and-death situations. These checklists are designed to make sure that all important steps are made and that lives are saved. A new study published in the January 17, 2013 edition of…
If you go to the emergency room with chest pain, you would expect your doctor to listen to your heart—just as a broken toe would require him to examine your foot. So why would an anesthesiologist take your pulse to determine what’s happening in your…
It may not be easy to document every error that almost happens in a hospital. However, some experts, such as Paula Holbrook, associate director of risk management and clinical risk manager for the University of Kentucky Healthcare’s A.B. Chandler Medical Center, believe that it is…