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All the hospitals where infant abductions have occurred identified unmonitored elevator or stairwell access to the postpartum and nursery areas as a root cause, according to information from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
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The labor and delivery department may be where the risk of infant abductions is greatest, but it is far from the only area of the hospital needing a risk managers attention. Children are often taken from other areas of the hospital that may not receive as much attention.
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Have you made your labor and delivery unit a veritable fortress with high-tech equipment and strict policies to prevent infant abductions, while leaving the back door wide open? Children in the pediatrics unit can be just as vulnerable as infants, experts say, but risk managers too often put all their focus on protecting the newborns while devoting relatively few resources to other young patients.
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A nonpunitive policy on investigating errors yields better results, especially if you couple it with an amnesty period that promises employees can confess their mistakes without threat of punishment, says Elaine Shaw, director of quality resources at Good Samaritan Hospital in Vincennes, IN.
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An 83-year-old man went to a hospital to visit his wife. He slipped and fell on an escalator, injuring his head.
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Although a nursing home was aware of a male patients general disorientation and history of self-destructive behavior, the man opened a fifth-floor window and fell to the pavement.
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A lawsuit alleging elder abuse and neglect was settled recently for $1 million, and the plaintiffs insisted that there be no confidentiality clause.
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Risk managers facing claims of newborn brain injury have more support for what the physicians have probably been saying all along: The tragic outcome wasnt caused by anything that happened in your facility.
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Larry Veltman, MD, chairman of the department obstetrics and gynecology at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, OR, and medical director of the healthcare professional liability division for the Farmers Insurance Group of Companies, offers this list of the most common failures that lead to OB malpractice lawsuits.
