I am confident that readers of P&T struggle with the critical issue of medication adherence on a regular basis. I am also sure that most of us are frustrated by our feeble attempts to improve low rates of patient compliance, especially with medications needed for chronic conditions. I am always on the lookout for help [...]
All physicians agree that change is inevitable in the practice of medicine. Practicing Medicine in the 21st Century is targeted toward medical students, residents, and physicians in a variety of settings. As a practicing physician for over 25 years, I predict that this book will be extremely useful for physicians of all ages and at [...]
Pharmacists around the country now have one more administrative chore to worry about. Fortunately, this task concerns only their Medicaid patients—but that may be small comfort.
October 1, 2007, was the start date for a new federal requirement that pharmacists fill only those Medicaid prescriptions, including those for over-the-counter medications, that are written on “tamper-proof pads.
Problem: A hospitalized patient whose arm was connected to a portable blood pressure (BP) monitoring device was transported to the radiology department for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). A length of tubing that led from the monitor’s BP cuff inflator had a male Luer connector. This connector fit into a female connector on a shorter length [...]
PROMOTING A CULTURE OF SAFETY
A culture of fear stifles creativity and innovation, and it impedes continuous improvement by enabling defects to remain undetected—or unreported. Fear fosters gaps between “what we know” and “what we do.” To close this gap, it is imperative to promote and to support a culture in which staff members can search [...]
In October 2006, several nurses, pharmacists and providers commented that the medication error-reporting process at the Veterans Affairs-New York Harbor Healthcare System (VA-NYHHS) was lengthy and cumbersome and did not promote the reporting of all medication close calls and adverse events. The staff’s concerns were validated by the medication error-reporting data.
INTRODUCTION
According to the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) 1999 report, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, between 44,000 and 98,000 patients die each year in hospitals as a result of medical errors, thereby making these misadventures the eighth leading cause of death. With an estimated cost of $17 to $29 billion each year, [...]
