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The Armstrong Institute Center for Diagnostic Excellence. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, September 27, 9:00 AM-4:00 PM (eastern).
This piece focuses on the importance of patient safety following the end of the public health emergency and how organizations can move beyond the pandemic.
This piece focuses on the importance of patient safety following the end of the public health emergency and how organizations can move beyond the pandemic.
This piece focuses on the importance of patient safety following the end of the public health emergency and how organizations can move beyond the pandemic.
Addressing diagnostic errors to improve outcomes and patient safety has long been a problem in the US healthcare system.1 Many methods of reducing diagnostic error focus on individual factors and single cases, instead of focusing on the contribution of system factors or looking at diagnostic errors across a disease or clinical condition. Instead of addressing individual cases, KP sought to improve the disease diagnosis process and systems. The goal was to address the systemic root cause issues in systems that lead to diagnostic errors.
This piece discusses virtual nursing, an approach to care that incorporates an advanced practice nurse into hospital-based patient care through telehealth. Virtual nursing increases patient safety and may enable expert nurses to continue to meet patient needs in future staffing shortages.
This piece discusses virtual nursing, an approach to care that incorporates an advanced practice nurse into hospital-based patient care through telehealth. Virtual nursing increases patient safety and may enable expert nurses to continue to meet patient needs in future staffing shortages.
Editor’s note: Kathleen Sanford is the chief nursing officer and an executive vice president at CommonSpirit. Sue Schuelke is an assistant professor at the College of Nursing–Lincoln Division, University of Nebraska Medical Center. They have pioneered and tested a new model of nursing care that utilizes technology to add experienced expert nurses to care teams, called Virtual Nursing.
Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
Harolds JA, Harolds LB. Clin Nucl Med. 2015–2023.
Concern over patient safety issues associated with inadequate tracking of test results has grown over the last decade, as it can lead to delays in the recognition of abnormal test results and the absence of a tracking system to ensure short-term patient follow-up.1,2 Missed abnormal tests and the lack of necessary clinical follow-up can lead to a late diagnosis.
This case describes a 65-year-old man with alcohol use disorder who presented to a hospital 36 hours after his last alcoholic drink and was found to be in severe alcohol withdrawal. The patient’s Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment (CIWA) score was very high, indicating signs and symptoms of severe alcohol withdrawal. He was treated with symptom-triggered dosing of benzodiazepines utilizing the CIWA protocol and dexmedetomidine continuous infusion.
A 56-year-old woman presented to the emergency department (ED) with shaking, weakness, poor oral intake and weight loss, constipation for several days, subjective fevers at home, and mild pain in the chest, back and abdomen. An abdominal x-ray confirmed a large amount of stool in the colon with no free air and her blood leukocyte count was 11,500 cells/μL with 31% bands. She received intravenous fluids but without any fecal output while in the ED.
A 50-year-old unhoused patient presented to the Emergency Department (ED) for evaluation of abdominal pain, reportedly one day after swallowing multiple sharp objects. Based on the radiologic finding of an open safety pin or paper clip in the distal stomach, he was appropriately scheduled for urgent esophagogastroduodenoscopy and ordered to remain NPO (nothing by mouth) to reduce the risk of aspirating gastric contents.
