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One prominent insurer is seeing substantial improvements in how malpractice claims are handled by promoting a full-disclosure policy for physicians.
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Hospitals are still at risk from people posing as surveyors from JCAHO and other accrediting organizations, but authorities say there are no new leads on who the frauds are or why they are trying to gain access. There is a heightened awareness of the impostors, however, as evidenced by recent false alarms.
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Simulation training has a long history with examples ranging from modeling in the animal kingdom (eg, a lion teaching hunting skills to a cub), to war games designed to better prepare soldiers for battle.
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In this prospective study, cook and associates looked at prevalence and incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) as diagnosed by compression ultrasonography in ICU patients.
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Doering and colleagues used a nonrandomized, comparative, longitudinal design to study 72 patients after CABG surgery to investigate the association among depressive symptoms, infections, and impaired wound healing.
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Implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and especially its Privacy Rule, has affected everyone who works in health care. This study from the University of Michigan sought to determine the potential effect of the Privacy Rule on the conduct of clinical research in the form of a telephone interview-based follow-up study.
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Defensive medicine has been defined as clinical care that deviates from sound medical practice primarily as a result of medicolegal liability concerns. In this study, investigators conducted a mail survey in Pennsylvania of 824 physicians from six high-risk specialties including emergency medicine.
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The gum elastic bougie (GEB) is an established tool that has gained increased usage during difficult endotracheal intubation scenarios during the last several years. The GEB is a 60-cm tracheal tube introducer with a smoothly angled tip. If the glottis is not visualized fully during direct laryngoscopy, the GEB may be passed blindly (or with partial visualization) behind the epiglottis.
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Several recent studies have significantly expanded the evidence for the central role of computed tomography (CT) in the evaluation of the patient with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE). We review these studies below and summarize the current understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of CT.
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The rhythm in the Figure was obtained from a 70-year-old woman who was admitted to the hospital with a history of "falling out" on several occasions during the week prior to admission. Her initial 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) was unremarkable, and acute serum markers were negative for recent infarction.
