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 [...]
By Joanne Kenen June 30, 2009 This story is a collaboration between Kaiser Health News and The Washington Post. Doctors call them frequent fliers. They are the patients who leave the hospital, only to boomerang back days or weeks later. They have become a front-burner challenge not only for hospitals and doctors but also for [...]
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.
Washington bill would require MRSA screening All hospital patients would be screened for the super bug known as MRSA and those at high risk would be tested for the antibiotic-resistant bacterium under proposed legislation, the Seattle Times reports in its Dec. 28th issue. Patients who tested positive for MRSA, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, would be isolated [...]
In this column, Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, talks about what hospitals—and you—can do to prevent hospital-acquired infections.
When choosing a hosptial you can now go online to see how they are ranked for quality and safety at a number of websites. But how useful are these rankings to the consumer? Not very, a new study suggests. The study appears in the current issue of the journal Health Affairs. Michael Rothberg, an assistant [...]
Many patients in the Puget Sound region are not getting the health care recommended by national guidelines, according to a new study. The study also found that quality of care in the region varies widely from hospital to hospital, from clinic to clinic, and even from provider to provider within same medical group or institution. [...]
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 [...]
A new approach to health care in which insurers pay for the quality of, not the quantity of, care can substantially cut costs, improve outcomes and boost patient satisfaction, according to a report released by Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center. Virginia Mason has won a reputation for innovation in particular for its adoption of the [...]
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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