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Alert fatigue can lead to behaviors in health care that may seem fine until the day they cause a tragedy, says John Banja, PhD, assistant director for health sciences and clinical ethics at Emory University in Atlanta.
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A hospital's attempt to prepare for armed intruders took a bad turn when a drill simulating a man with a gun taking over a patient care unit was too real for some staff. Many did not know that it was a drill and were severely traumatized. Plus, the clinicians were kept from their critically ill patients until the drill was cancelled.
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The proposed HITECH rules require covered entities to provide the recipient of any fundraising communication with a "clear and conspicuous" opportunity to opt out of receiving any further fundraising communications.
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Involve physicians in the development and implementation of alert systems, rather than simply training them in the systems when you're ready to go live, says Linda Peitzman, MD, chief medical officer of Wolters Kluwer Health in Indianapolis.
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The fake terror drill that left staff traumatized and the hospital facing a state investigation was a "very painful lesson," says Chief Operations Officer Teressa Conley, RN, MBA, MSN, EA, at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, NV.
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Patients who sue their surgeons for malpractice are more frequently receiving indemnity payments for increasingly larger amounts, according to a study of 3,300 cases across several states over a recent six-year period.
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Hospitals have been placed on notice: They must address the hazards of workplace violence.
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In a Sentinel Event Alert, The Joint Commission offered the following recommendations for reducing the risk of violence in hospitals:
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Hospitals are not the "safe havens" they once were. That is the cautionary message of a recent Sentinel Event Alert by the Joint Commission accrediting body, which focuses on attacks on patients.
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In new guidelines for Interferon Gamma Release Assays (IGRAs), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers these recommendations.
