Risk & Quality Management
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$3.1 Million Awarded to Veteran for Permanent Damages from Negligent Abscess Drainage
This case, and the significant monetary award, reveals some important lessons about liability and damages, including how statutory maximums can affect medical malpractice actions.
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Expert Tips for Handling Malpractice Claims
It is important to approach every potential lawsuit with the right mindset from early on, even before receiving notice of a claim. Experts highlight some of the biggest pitfalls in handling malpractice claims.
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Avoid Common Mistakes in Handling Medical Malpractice Claims
Although a medical malpractice claim can drag on for months or years, the ultimate outcome of the case may be determined by what happens in the first hours or days. Some mistakes and oversights can put you at a disadvantage when defending against the claim.
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PowerPoint Is Not Enough: How to Improve Safety Education and Training
Safety education requires more than a dull presentation and a few slides. Risk managers should seek effective methods.
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EHRs Are Still a Work in Progress
Recent research may not tell the whole story about electronic health records (EHRs) and patient safety. Hospitals must be vigilant in weighing the benefits of using clinical decision support tools in EHRs against the potential downsides of overly tying doctors to their computers with an abundance of manual, perceived non-value-added tasks.
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EHRs Still Not Improving Safety After Years of Promise
Recent research indicates electronic health records still are not improving patient safety, despite years of efforts to make them more effective in preventing errors and boosting adherence to best practices.
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In Quality Improvement, Emphasize Consistency, Error Metrics
Quality improvement efforts often fall short by not following through with measurement after implementing new guidelines or care processes. Measuring how often clinicians actually follow through is a vital benchmark.
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Hospitals Cut Common Infection Cases by Half with Scalable Process for System Goals
Research suggests mergers may cause a quality decline. When hospitals in Massachusetts were facing a merger, leaders sought to address the quality issue head-on and achieved substantial improvements in some categories, including a reduction in Clostridioides difficile cases.
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Failure to Diagnose and Treat Infection After Surgery Results in $2.75 Million Award
This case demonstrates the need to carefully monitor patients during the relevant times, particularly during and after surgery, and to investigate abnormal conditions. The primary basis for the medical malpractice liability in this case was the surgeon’s failure to diagnose and timely treat the infection, which escalated and caused severe, irreparable damage and pain to the patient.
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$30 Million Award Upheld for Negligent Treatment of Kidney Disease
Although unsuccessful in this matter, the defendant care provider raised an important defensive tool in medical malpractice actions: comparative negligence. States employ different applications of this legal principle.