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CDC: IPs Should Be Vigilant for Legionnaires’ Disease
With outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease increasing, hospitals should establish water management teams that include infection preventionists and launch an investigation even if they detect only one confirmed case of Legionella, according to recently updated guidelines1 by the CDC.
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IPs are Key Collaborators in the Fight Against Sepsis
With everything else they are tasked to do, infection preventionists may question why they are now being called upon as key collaborators in the national effort to reduce sepsis, a syndrome traditionally more associated with critical care than infection control.
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Feeding Tube in Lung Results in Death And $5 Million Verdict From Jury
In 2008, a hospitalized 88-year-old man was given a feeding tube by a first-year resident at a hospital. An X-ray was ordered to confirm the placement of the feeding tube, but the radiologist incorrectly read the X-ray.
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Unnecessary Heart Surgery With Pacemaker Results In $21.3 Million Verdict Against Hospital and Doctor
In 2010, a 39-year-old patient was told by a doctor that a catheterization showed a 60% blockage in an artery. He then was told that if he did not have a pacemaker implanted, he would die.
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Office of Civil Rights Gives Warning: Small Breaches Are Going To Be Investigated
The Office for Civil Rights announced recently that it will step up its investigations of HIPAA breaches affecting fewer than 500 people.
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Nurse Input Undervalued in Patient Safety
Nurses are an “underused resource” for improving patient safety, according to a recently published study.
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Court Says Reading Test Results Are Not ‘Treatment’
Reading test results does not constitute “treatment” as defined in medical malpractice law, and neither does transmitting the report, according to a Pennsylvania Superior Court common pleas judge.
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Workplace Bullying Brings $1.08 Million Verdict
A nurse in Dallas has been awarded $1.08 million for what a jury found was workplace bullying by her boss, a urologist. However, the plaintiff settled for $440,000 just before the verdict was announced.
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MACRA Would Grant Auditors HIPAA Access
A little-known feature of a proposed law adjusting physician reimbursement could create problems with HIPAA compliance, particularly if staff members are not informed.
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Protect Subpoenaed Data from Routine Deletions
Responding to a subpoena can require a risk manager’s oversight of many functions in a healthcare organization, and one area is easy to overlook: the scheduled deletions of data from the computer system that happen in nearly every hospital and health system.