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Found 661 results
  1. News Article
    The percentage of Americans reporting they or a family member postponed medical treatment in 2022 due to cost rose 12 points in one year, to 38%, the highest in Gallup’s 22-year trend. The latest double-digit increase in delaying medical treatment came on the heels of two consecutive 26% readings during the COVID-19 pandemic that were the lowest since 2004. The previous high point in the trend was 33% in 2014 and 2019. An average 29% of U.S. adults reported putting off medical treatment because of cost between 2001 and 2021. Americans were more than twice as likely to report the delayed treatment in their family was for a serious rather than a nonserious condition in 2022. In all, 27% said the treatment was for a “very” or “somewhat” serious condition or illness, while 11% said it was “not very” or “not at all” serious. Lower-income adults, younger adults and women in the U.S. have consistently been more likely than their counterparts to say they or a family member have delayed care for a serious medical condition. In 2022, Americans with an annual household income under $40,000 were nearly twice as likely as those with an income of $100,000 or more to say someone in their family delayed medical care for a serious condition (34% vs. 18%, respectively). Those with an income between $40,000 and less than $100,000 were similar to those in the lowest income group when it comes to postponing care, with 29% doing so. Read full story Source: Gallup News, 17 January 2023
  2. Content Article
    This blog by Brita Lundberg of Lundberg Health Advocates looks at how healthcare providers can sometimes blame the patient for their condition, errors in treatment and communication issues. She looks at the role that language used in medical settings and historical views of the medical profession have on the tendency to blame patients, and highlights how the issue is also present in wider society. She offers three potential steps to help tackle patient-blaming: Recognise the problem, as it is difficult if not impossible to solve a problem until one recognises that it exists. Families, friends and clinicians should start with the assumption that the patient is correct and question others, particularly any in authority. All of us can be much too quick to dismiss patients’ concerns and to reassure them. It’s a bad habit. Instead–it is prudent never to eliminate any diagnosis, particularly one suggested by the patient, until all the supporting and contradictory evidence for each is carefully considered. Listen–that terribly overused and so little practiced—word. Listening instead of interrupting right away not only helps preserve the flow of the narrative but also gives us time to think about what is being said, and time to formulate a more considered response.
  3. Content Article
    In this post, Amber Clour, author of the Diabetes Daily Grind blog, talks about her experience of managing her type 1 diabetes while attending the emergency room for suspected appendicitis. She describes the steps she took to make sure her blood sugar levels were managed safely and with her consent, including communicating clearly with all healthcare professionals, ensuring her continuous glucose monitor (CGM) was not removed and bringing her own supply of glucose tablets to manage hypoglycaemia. Further reading Blog - “I felt lucky to get out alive”: why we must improve hospital safety for people with diabetes
  4. Content Article
    In this blog, Paul E Sax, Contributing Editor at NEJM Journal Watch looks at a recent study into the effectiveness of medical masks compared to N95 respirators for preventing Covid-19 infection among healthcare workers. The author aims to help readers understand how to appraise research studies and decide how and whether to apply their findings. He defines some of the complex terminology used in the study and looks at its methods and findings from both a critical and supportive viewpoint.
  5. Content Article
    In this article, Rachel Star Withers shares her account of receiving electroconvulsive therapy to treat her severe depression and schizophrenia while in her final year at college. She describes how the treatment robbed her of her memory, reading and writing abilities, but saved her life. Without ECT, Rachel believe she would have committed suicide. She talks about the need to educate people about the realities of ECT and undo unhelpful 'horror-story' stereotypes.
  6. News Article
    Death rates from cancer in the US have fallen by 32% over the three decades from 1991 to 2019, according to the American Cancer Society. The decline is thanks to prevention, screening, early diagnosis and treatment of common cancers, including lung and breast cancer. The drop has meant 3.5m fewer deaths. However, cancers are still the second leading cause of death in the US, after heart disease. In 1991, the cancer death rate was 215 per 100,000 people and in 2019 it dropped to 146 per 100,000 people. Lung cancer, of which there are 230,000more cases each year, kills the most patients, 350 per day. But people are being diagnosed sooner, and technological advancements have increased the survival rate by three years. The report also examined racial and economic disparities in cancer outcomes. The Covid-19 pandemic added to already existing difficulties for marginalised groups to get cancer screenings and treatment. For nearly every type of cancer, white people have a higher survival rate than black people. Black women with breast cancer face a 41% higher death rate than white women. Read full story Source: BBC News, 12 January 2023
  7. Content Article
    This blog by Robert Otto Valdez, Director of the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), outlines the setbacks to patient safety and the healthcare workforce caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. He highlights areas of concern including workforce burnout and an increase in healthcare associated infections (HAIs) since 2020. The issues faced by the US healthcare system are not felt equally, and Valdez draws attention to a report that demonstrates worsening health inequalities. The blog includes links to evidence-based research and initiatives developed by AHRQ aimed at improving current patient safety priorities. Toolkits to improve antibiotic use. These resources are based on a “Four Moments of Antibiotic Decision Making” model that has shown success in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and ambulatory care practices. Tools to engage patients and families in making healthcare safer. Patients and families are powerful partners in improving quality and safety in hospital settings, during primary care visits, or whenever a diagnosis is made. These resources help ensure that patients’ voices are heard. Surveys on patient safety culture. This family of surveys asks healthcare providers and staff about the extent to which their organisational culture supports patient safety. Each survey is designed to assess patient safety culture in a specific setting. Diagnostic Centers of Excellence. These grants establishing 10 centres of excellence are aimed at developing systems, measures, and new technology solutions to improve diagnostic safety and quality.
  8. Content Article
    The Leapfrog Group is a non-profit watchdog organisation that serves as a voice for healthcare consumers in the US, using their collective influence to foster positive change in healthcare. It provides patient safety ratings for hospitals, grading them from A to E. This article in Becker's Hospital Review highlights the patient safety priorities for 2023 of eleven US hospitals that have consistently been awarded 'A' grades by Leapfrog. Key themes include a focus on reducing healthcare associated infections, increasing psychological safety for staff and improving communication between staff and patients.
  9. Content Article
    In November 2021, 15-year old Alice Tapper nearly died due to a missed diagnoses of a perforated appendix. In this opinion piece, Alice shares her experience of being admitted to hospital with intense abdominal pain and other serious symptoms. In spite of her parents' requests for imaging to rule out appendicitis, doctors diagnosed that Alice had a viral infection and refused to prescribe antibiotics. Alice's condition severely deteriorated, leading her father to call the hospital and beg a gastroenterologist for further investigation. Fortunately, the hospital granted his request and after an x-ray and ultrasound, Alice was found to have a perforated appendix. She was going into hypovolemic shock, when severe blood or other fluid loss makes the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body. Thankfully, emergency surgery and antibiotics saved Alice's life, but she reflects on the fact that without her father's intervention, she would probably have died. She describes how her doctors failed to take the concerns she and her parents repeatedly expressed seriously, and that this lack of responsiveness could have been fatal. She highlights research that shows that appendicitis is missed in up to 15% of paediatric patients, and that missed diagnosis is most common in children under five, and is more common in girls than boys.
  10. Content Article
    This study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, looks at the frequency, preventability and severity of patient harm in a random sample of admissions from 11 Massachusetts hospitals during 2018. From this sample, it identified adverse events in nearly one in four admissions, approximately a quarter of which were deemed as preventable.
  11. News Article
    More than 7,000 nurses at two major New York City hospitals walked off the job Monday, arguing immense staffing shortages are causing widespread burnout and hindering their ability to properly care for their patients. The nurses say they are working long hours in unsafe conditions without enough pay – a refrain echoed by several other nurses strikes across the country over the past year. The union representing the nurses said an offer of 19% pay hikes isn’t enough to solve staffing shortages. This is the latest in a series of strikes in the health care industry in recent years. Those union members who were on the front lines during the three-year battle with the Covid pandemic say the system is no longer able to function with the widespread shortages that arose during those years. “We’ve been fighting for working under safer conditions,” Warren Urquhart, a transplant nurse at Mount Sinai, told CNN Monday while on the picket line. “We do the best we can every day. There’s something wrong inside the hospital. That’s why we’re outside the hospital.” Read full story Source: CNN, 9 January 2023
  12. News Article
    The FDA is greenlighting the drug Leqembi after it appeared to slow cognitive decline in some early stage Alzheimer’s patients in spite of some potential risks. In this video, Kristen Dahlgren has more details about findings from the clinical trial. Watch full story Source: NBC News, 7 January 2023
  13. News Article
    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval for the Alzheimer’s disease drug lecanemab, one of the first experimental dementia drugs to appear to slow the progression of cognitive decline. Lecanemab will be marketed as Leqembi, the FDA statement said. It has shown “potential” as an Alzheimer’s disease treatment by appearing to slow progression, according to Phase 3 trial results, but it has raised safety concerns due to its association with certain serious adverse events, including brain swelling and bleeding. In July, the FDA accepted Eisai’s Biologics License Application for lecanemab under the accelerated approval pathway and granted the drug priority review, according to the company. The accelerated approval programme allows for earlier approval of medications that treat serious conditions and “fill an unmet medical need” while the drugs continue to be studied in larger and longer trials. If those trials confirm that the drug provides a clinical benefit, the FDA could grant traditional approval. But if the confirmatory trial does not show benefit, the FDA has the regulatory procedures that could lead to taking the drug off the market. Read full story Source: CNN Health, 7 January 2023
  14. News Article
    The Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM) has announced that Congress in the final FY 2023 Omnibus spending bill has doubled dedicated federal funding for research to reduce patient harm from diagnostic error. Statistically, each of us is likely to experience a meaningful diagnostic error in our lifetime. The significant human and financial toll of diagnostic errors, which occur in all settings of care, was first highlighted in a landmark 2015 National Academy of Medicine (NAM) report, Improving Diagnosis in Health Care. The report found that missed, delayed, or un-communicated diagnoses result in more patient harm than all other healthcare-associated harms combined. The NAM report called diagnostic error "a blind spot" in health care quality and safety, and improving medical diagnosis a "moral, professional, and public health imperative." Since the release of the NAM report, SIDM has been working hard to educate policymakers about these issues and advocating for more research funding. SIDM has assembled a coalition of dozens of groups representing health systems, patients, clinicians, and others to raise awareness and spark action. "This funding is an important signal that Congress is becoming aware of the magnitude of the public health burden, both human and financial, associated with diagnostic error and intends to tackle it," says Jennie Ward-Robinson, CEO of SIDM. Citing diagnosis as "the next frontier of patient safety," the NAM report summarised what is known about factors that affect diagnostic safety and accuracy at the clinician, system, and policy levels, and made recommendations at each of those levels. A few promising interventions are already emerging for specific and commonly misdiagnosed conditions, as well as for specific systems-level problems, such as failure to "close the loop" on abnormal test results. But these initiatives are tiny compared the scope and scale of the issue. Read full story Source: CISION PR Newswire, 3 January 2023
  15. Content Article
    Fatigue and sleep deprivation may affect healthcare professionals' skills and communication style and also may affect clinical outcomes. However, there are no current guidelines limiting the volume of deliveries and procedures performed by a single individual, or on the length of time that they can be on call. This Committee Opinion from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) analyses research relating to fatigue and performance in healthcare professionals in order to make recommendations to doctors and managers to improve staff and patient safety.
  16. Content Article
    In this video published by Patient Safety Movement, Kimberly Cripe, CEO of the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC), discusses how her hospital has incorporated Actionable Evidence-Based Practices to improve patient safety culture in a paediatric setting. She describes the many benefits of the approach including for staff morale and making financial savings.
  17. Content Article
    Healthcare-associated infection (HAI) prevention has been difficult for healthcare providers to maintain during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study summarises themes for maintaining infection prevention activities learnt from the implementation of a quality improvement (QI) programme in intensive care units (ICUs) during the pandemic. The authors of the study conducted qualitative analysis of participants’ semi-structured exit interviews, self-assessments on HAI prevention activities, participant-created action plans, chat-box discussions during webinars and informal correspondence. The study identified four themes for successful maintenance of infection prevention activities during the pandemic: the value of a pre-existing infection prevention infrastructure flexibility in approach broad buy-in for maintaining QI programmes the facilitation of idea-sharing.
  18. Content Article
    Roughly 16 million Americans are living with Long Covid, but many are not getting the right medical care. In this article in Popular Science, Miles Griffis argues that one way to improve the system is by letting patients lead. He describes his own disabling case of Long Covid, the issues he has faced in gaining access to Long Covid clinics and the lack of treatment options available to him. He argues that at some point, the demand from patients for treatment will force progress in Long Covid research.
  19. Content Article
    Ensuring everyone has clean hands can protect patients from serious infections in healthcare facilities. However, studies show that on average, healthcare workers wash their hands less than half as many times as they should. This contributes to the spread of healthcare-associated infections, which affect 1 in 31 hospital patients in the US. This campaign by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) aims to improve healthcare provider adherence to hand hygiene recommendations, address myths and misperceptions about hand hygiene, and empower patients to play a role in their care by asking or reminding healthcare providers to clean their hands.
  20. Content Article
    This book is an urgent call to action centring on David Mayer's thirty-five-year mission to raise awareness of the 250,000 lives that are lost each year to preventable medical harm. It also looks at the harm faced by healthcare professionals in the form of workplace violence, depression, and burnout resulting in suicide rates higher than almost every other industry. The book's narrative-driven timeline follows the author's 2,452-mile walk to thirty-seven Major League Ballparks using his love of baseball as a way to garner media attention for his mission and indulge in the welcome relief of baseball nostalgia. Written for both medical professional and lay readers, the book pulls in stories of patients and caregivers harmed as a catalyst for change in our healthcare system, and as a way for the public to connect with the issues faced by healthcare professionals. Also included are pivotal anecdotes and stories from Mayer's medical career that propelled him to become an internationally recognized patient safety leader.
  21. Content Article
    This article in Science News looks at the impact of the growing global burden of Long Covid during 2022. It describes "a tidal wave of people with lingering symptoms—some mild, some profoundly disabling" which has commanded the attention of researchers and doctors, who are still looking for answers on how to diagnose and treat Long Covid. The article also highlights risk factors, symptoms and the need to focus on people whose lives are most severely restricted by the condition.
  22. Content Article
    In this blog for Medpage Today, US doctor Diane Solomon talks about the power of apologising to patients. Outlining the tendency of healthcare professionals to defend their practice, she describes how being honest and open with patients about errors demonstrates humanity and compassion. She talks about the importance of being sincere when apologising and outlines how taking responsibility builds trust and can positively change future outcomes.
  23. Content Article
    This article for ABC News looks at a study conducted by researchers from the Bond University and other Australian universities about the impact of the 'hero' and 'angel' narratives applied to nurses during the Covid-19 pandemic. They interviewed critical care nurses in the UK, Australia and North America about their perceptions of these terms. The study found that nurses felt the labels devalued their professionalism, created unreasonable expectations, contributed to gender stereotypes and increased burn-out by putting emphasis on showing up for work even when nurses are unwell. The study also highlighted that nurses responded more positively to the terms 'hero' and 'angel' when used by patients, as opposed to governments and the media.
  24. News Article
    The US Joint Commission will hold a safety briefing with healthcare organisations at the start of every accreditation survey starting in 2023, the organisation has said. Site surveyors and staff members preselected by the healthcare organisation will conduct an informal, five-minute briefing to discuss any potential safety concerns — such as fires, an active shooter scenario or other emergencies — and how surveyors should react if safety plans are implemented while they are on site. The change takes effect 1 January 2023 and applies to all accreditation surveys performed by the organisation. Read full story Source: Becker's Hospital Review, 13 December 2022
  25. Content Article
    Elizabeth Holmes, the 38 year old founder of failed diagnostic start-up Theranos, was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison this November. The sentence was handed down nearly a year after she was found guilty of defrauding investors about her finger prick blood testing devices, and seven years after the Wall Street Journal published its first investigation exposing the company’s struggles. Theranos’ customers received false laboratory test results indicating life threatening conditions such as cancer and HIV. Patients were left to wait anxiously while traditional laboratories repeated the tests, and at least one customer stopped taking his medication on the basis of erroneous results. Holmes was ultimately not convicted of charges relating to patient harm, instead she will be locked up for misleading wealthy investors.
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