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Advice on resolving count discrepancies in the OR
When a member of the OR team notices a count discrepancy, that person must speak up, said Amber Wood, MSN, RN, CNOR, CIC, senior perioperative practice specialist at the Association of perioperative Registered Nurses and lead author of a newly updated guideline on retained items.
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First-of-its-kind perioperative surgical home initiative
Most participants in the perioperative surgical home learning collaborative reported they enhanced clinical quality, controlled costs, and/or improved patient experiences as a result of their initiatives.
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Outpatient surgery field fights back after ban from insurance plans
Distressed. Alarming. Shortsighted. Troubling. These words are being used to describe a new trend of employers offering healthcare coverage that excludes outpatient surgery in all settings: hospitals, surgery centers, and surgeons’ offices.
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New guidance on ethics of charity dental clinics
Informed consent and lack of access to necessary follow-up care are two ethical concerns with charity clinics offering free dental care, according to a white paper from the American Dental Association.
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Telemedicine sees rapid growth
Almost all major healthcare systems are adopting some form of telehealth, and it is rapidly becoming a standard of care, says David A. Fleming, MD, MA, MACP, director of University of Missouri’s Center for Health Ethics in Columbia.
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Ebola outbreak brought unprecedented ethical challenges
Sangeeta Lamba, MD, associate professor of emergency medicine and surgery at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, says Ebola was one of the biggest systemwide ethical challenges she’s seen in her career. “Nothing has challenged us more in emergency medicine, in the ethical realm, than Ebola,” she says.
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Complex consent process is “mired in ethical problems”
Is a prospective research participant struggling to comprehend a lengthy form on the risks and benefits of the study? “A complex consent process is mired in ethical problems,” says Linda Aldoory, PhD, an associate professor of communication at the University of Maryland in College Park.
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Are opioid ‘pain agreements’ on solid ethical ground?
Failure to prescribe opioid analgesics in a manner that reflects “pharmacovigilance” can expose a physician not only to charges of unprofessional practice, but in extreme cases, even criminal prosecution, warns Ben A. Rich, JD, PhD, emeritus professor of internal medicine (Bioethics) at UC Davis School of Medicine. Malpractice lawsuits alleging the physician’s prescribing led to drug-addicted patients are another concern.
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Good ethical policies can empower clinicians and improve bottom line
While ethics consults typically focus on individual patients’ unique situations, many involve scenarios that recur repeatedly. These are ideally addressed at an organizationwide level, according to Edward J. Dunn, MD, ScD, a fellow in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at Wright State University in Dayton, OH. Dunn is a former director of the Integrated Ethics Program at Lexington (KY) VA Medical Center.
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Failure to administer diagnostic tests or refer to specialist leads to death, $8.25 million liability
In 2009, a 68-year-old man suffering from arthritis in his knee checked into a hospital for a total knee replacement. Following the surgery, the man complained of confusion and disorientation and became hypoxic and anemic.