McDermott wants to make reporting of medical errors mandatory Hearst newsgathers Eric Nalder and Cathleen Crowley report in the SeattlePI.com that U.S. Representatives Jim McDermott wants mandatory national reporting of medical errors. Nalder and Crowley’s story covers the reaction to a Hearst investigative series Dead by Mistake. The SeattlePI.com newsgathers were part of an investigative team [...]
Teachers more likely to spank disabled children More than 200,000 U.S. schoolchildren are spanked, paddled or subjected to some other form of corporal punishment each year with disabled children receiving a disproportionate share of such punishments, according to a report prepared by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “At least 41,972 [...]
To reduce medical errors, hospitals are forming advisory councils where patients and health care professionals work together to improve safety. In this column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, M.D., director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, explains how these advisory councils work. Hospital Advisory Councils Get Patients’ View on Safer Health Care By Carolyn [...]
Efforts to improve the quality of U.S. health care and reduce medical errors are proving to be disappointingly slow, writes Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, in this column. “If you get sick or have surgery, you have only a 3 in 5 chance of getting the care [...]
Despite rules limiting the hours doctors-in-training can work, a recent report by the Institute of Medicine found that many of hospital interns and residents continue to work long shifts with far too little sleep. In this column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. writes about efforts to reduce [...]
When a patient’s heart stops in the hospital, the staff calls a “code” to summoning a resuscitation or “crash” team. But in one Washington hospital the call code for the crash team” might be “code 4″, while in another it might be “code blue”. And in yet another hospital “code blue” might be the call [...]
Using a simple checklist to make sure operating teams completed important safety tasks before, during and after operating, reduced surgical deaths and serious post-operative complications by roughly one third.
Puget Sound Health Alliance will release its latest report on how well participating health-care providers are meeting health-care quality standards this Thursday morning, November 13. The Alliance’s Community Checkup report assesses such things as: how well health-care providers do in providing surgical care and heart attack prevention care; how well they manage chronic conditions such as [...]
What: Puget Sound Health Alliance will release its latest report on how well participating health-care providers are meeting health-care quality standards. The report will be the most comprehensive assessment of health-care quality in the region ever done, the Alliance says. When: Thursday morning, November 13 at 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. (A discussion [...]
Under new rules, Medicare will no longer pay hospitals for care needed because of medical errors. In her regular column, Dr Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, says the new rules should help make hospitals safer and improve the quality of hospital care.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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Lost in translation: Lack of trained interpreters can lead to medical errors
Interpreter services at hospitals and other medical settings are often inadequate, forcing family members, including children, to step in, or the task falls to medical staff members who may not speak the language well.
Some insurers deny ER coverage to people who have been drinking
Laws in more than half the states permit insurers to deny payment for medical services related to alcohol or drug use. Faced with the prospect of not getting paid for care, some ER personnel sidestep the problem by simply not testing patients’ blood or urine for alcohol.
Travel insurance can protect your wallet — and your health on vacation
Think your regular health insurance policy will cover you if you get into medical trouble overseas?
Don’t bet on it.
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