The number of hospital consolidations has increased, but this trend of hospitals merging with others hasn’t necessary translated into better standards of patient care or safety. According to a new study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, hospital mergers which are often promoted as a way for hospitals to cut costs and […]
Since the Institute of Medicine released the path breaking To Err is Human report more than two decades ago, much has changed in the practice of medicine. The error rate for radiologists, however, still remains stubbornly high. Technology has made many diagnostic processes much easier, but the overall radiology error rate still hovers at around […]
The state of a physician’s mental health could very strongly influence his risk of committing medical errors. According to the results of a new study conducted by a group of psychiatrists, symptoms of depression in doctors are often not identified or treated, and this places patients at risk of injury or harm as a result […]
A researcher who spoke at the recent Association of American Medical Colleges Annual Meeting discussed how a culture of “psychological safety” can help make for better and higher- performing surgical and medical teams. According to Amy Edmondson, psychological safety exists when every member of a team, right from the lowest- ranking member to the highest […]
Far too many radiology errors are resulting in wrong diagnoses and unnecessary surgeries. Forbes magazine recently reported on the high cost of such unnecessary surgeries, not just in monetary terms, but also in terms of the human suffering involved in these unwarranted surgeries. According to the report, the error rates from x-rays and other minor […]
The risk of dangerous and possible life-threatening medical errors can be reduced through greater and more stable forms of communication between patient families and health care providers. Those results come from the findings of a new study conducted at Boston Children’s Hospital. In the study, researchers developed an intervention system that was specifically designed to […]
A new documentary shines the light on a much – neglected problem surrounding patient safety – the nexus between doctors /hospitals and insurance companies that makes it harder for injured patients to recover justice after they have been injured due to medical negligence. The documentary titled Bleed Out premiered on HBO recently, and featured accounts […]
A new medical course developed by a radiologist aims at training medical students to prevent the kind of medical errors caused by radiology missteps. The radiologist, Dr. Timothy Mosher of Penn State University says he developed the course after reading a report titled Improving Diagnosis in Health Care which was released in 2015 by the National Academies […]
Workplace fatigue and burnout is a problem affecting American doctors, and according to a new study, as many as half of all doctors in the country are experiencing symptoms of fatigue that actually increase their risk of medical errors. The poll was conducted by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and focused on nearly […]
New studies find that the use of a safety checklist can help radiologists prevent errors during severe contrast reactions. The results of the study were published recently in the American Journal of Roentgenology. Contrast reaction management is a particularly error-prone area of radiology. What makes it worse is that the kind of errors that often […]
