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A young woman presented to the emergency department (ED) of a hospital after being shot in the head with an air pellet rifle. Almost half an hour passed between the time the woman was seen by the ED nurse and the time the nurse informed the ED physician of the woman's condition.
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Drug theft is a vexing problem for any health care provider, but a health system in Texas is finding that the thefts can be on such a scale that federal investigators become interested and the community starts asking how the provider could have let the thieves continue for so long.
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The theft ring at Parkland Hospital in Dallas was discovered and self-reported to all appropriate agencies by Parkland's director of pharmacy services, Vivian Johnson, according to a letter the hospital sent to the State Board of Pharmacy.
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Wandering and elopement exist in all health care facilities, but long-term care facilities are at most risk because of the nature of the residents' conditions. Patients with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, autism, and others who cannot help themselves pose a high risk, no matter the setting.
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Background checks for criminal records or other questionable behavior should be a standard risk management strategy for all health care providers, and meeting minimum requirements is not the best way to go, say providers and experts in background screens.
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Pernille Ostberg, president of Matrix Home Care in West Palm Beach, FL, offers these tips for improving background checks on health care workers:
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Health information exchanges (HIEs), which support secure electronic sharing of patient health information among caregivers, patients, public health authorities, and health care and payment services providers across different setting and geographical areas, are among the most promising initiatives in health care, but there are privacy and security issues that should concern risk managers.
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A former University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) Healthcare System employee who says he had no idea it was a crime to look at patient records will have four months in prison to think about it.
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Resident elopement and wandering can be extremely dangerous for patients and costly to the facility if the patient is injured or dies, but many health care providers do not have a formal plan in place to prevent the problem or respond effectively once staff realize a patient is missing.
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Gaining patient consent and provider adoption for health information exchanges (HIEs) is important for the success of the effort, and patients must be adequately educated about the HIE or they may not give their permission, says Jared Rhoads, senior research analyst with CSC, a technology consulting company based in Falls Church, VA.
