Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2003 11:22:08 -0500 (EST) From: "Health Smart @ U.S.News.com" <usnews.com_Newsletters@clickaction.net> To: hackers@freebsd.org Subject: Guarding Against Mistakes Message-ID: <7519042.1071764528099.JavaMail.ema@hawk>
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Dear Jesus,
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W E L C O M E T O U S N E W S . C O M
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Health Smart: Patient Safety
Volume 3, Issue 22 -- Dec. 17, 2003
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WAKE UP, DOC (Health News)
"It just made me want to get through patient rounds quicker to get them done."
--Shamarie Sais, on her 120-hour workweek as a resident at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
A new set of rules recently went into effect, fueled by growing fear that sleep-deprived doctors might be doing as much harm as good. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which oversees about 8,000 residency programs in the United States, has decreed that residents may no longer work more than 80 hours a week on average--and no more than 30 hours at a stretch.
New rules try to address the perils of exhausted hospital residents:
http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15504a92424a193255559a2
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HEALTH HAZARDS OF OFFICE-BASED SURGERY (Health News)
"We don't have effective ways of monitoring all that happens within a doctor's office."
--James Thompson, president of the Federation of State Medical Boards
Surgery and complicated diagnostic tests in a doctor's office--a growing trend--carry heightened risks. A study in the latest Archives of Surgery found that the risk of serious injury or death is 10 times as high in a doctor's office as in an ambulatory surgery center, a free-standing clinic for outpatients.
Usually people visit a doctor's office to get better:
http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15504a92424a193255559a3
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GUARDING AGAINST MISTAKES (Safety Tips)
Each year, hundreds of thousands of American hospital patients are injured and tens of thousands die not because of the condition that brought them to the hospital but because of errors made after they walked in. Medications with similar names are mixed up; dosages are misread; blood is mislabeled; surgeons operate on the wrong body part.
You can guard against tragedy-but you can't be passive:
http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15504a92424a193255559a0
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SPEAKING UP FOR SAFETY (Health News)
"Consumers aren't angry enough yet."
--Donald Berwick, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Dangerous errors, long the shameful secret of medicine, are finally starting to get some attention. Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans are needlessly injured or killed by a medical system that is supposed to protect them. In a 2001 survey for the Commonwealth Fund, 10 percent of adults said that they or a family member had become sicker as a result of a medical mistake.
Patients and their relatives are gaining a voice in fighting dangerous errors:
http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15504a92424a193255559a1
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'I'M ON FIRE...' (Health News)
"My lips were cooked, and my sinuses burnt up."
--Melanie Allen, victim of a flash fire during surgery
Melanie Allen sleeps in fits and starts these days, consumed by a recurring nightmare of her head being seared by a white-hot flame. Even when she's awake, she can't shake the nauseous feeling or the fear. Allen was the victim of a flash fire during surgery. The fire apparently was caused when an electro-cauterizing instrument ignited her surgical covers in the oxygen-rich environment.
Electro-surgical tools in an operating room can cause flash fires:
http://www.you-click.net/GoNow/a15504a92424a193255559a4
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Copyright 2003 U.S.News & World Report LP. All rights reserved.
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Tools for Living Smart
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