Medical errors that harm patients can be caused by poor communication between healthcare providers and patients and their families.

That’s the conclusion of a recently released study published online by BMJ (“Patient Safety after Implementation of a Coproduced Family Centered Communication Programme: Multicenter Before and After Intervention Study”).

Patient Handoffs and Medical Mistakes

The study is an extended look at I-PASS, which is a communication model for healthcare providers to follow during patient handoffs.  At this time, doctor and nurses who are ending ...

More than nine out of every 10 people who died in 2017 U.S. transportation accidents were killed in highway fatal motor vehicle crashes.

In November, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a snapshot report on last year’s deaths in railroad, aviation, waterway and motor vehicle accidents.  In 2017, nearly 40,000 people died in accidents involving these modes of transportation.  Highway deaths accounted for 37,133 fatalities – 95 percent of all U.S. transportation deaths that year.

Fatal Commercial Truck Crashes Increased

The NTSB broke down highway deaths even ...

Though you probably are not aware of it, the first week of December is National Handwashing Week.  While this may seem like an innocuous observance, improper handwashing can be a negligent, live-threatening act.

Hospital-acquired infections are a serious and common form of preventable medical errors.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each day one out of every 31 U.S. hospital patients contracts an infection while receiving care.

Types of Serious Infections That Hospital Patients Suffer

Such infections are typically carried by a virus, bacteria or ...

It stands to reason that people who are tired are dangerous drivers and more likely to cause crashes.  Now there’s proof.

A study released in October provides a cause and effect relationship between fatigued drivers and motor vehicle crashes.  The study, titled “Acute Sleep Deprivation and Culpable Motor Vehicle Crash Involvement” and published in the October 2018 issue of the journal Sleep, examines the ultimate consequences of sleep-deprived drivers.

Researchers reviewed 5,470 motor vehicle accidents and interviewed the drivers involved, asking them to recount their ...

Diagnostic errors have been found to be the most abundant and most serious of all medical errors.  New research indicates that these mistakes may be prevented simply with better communication and respect from medical care providers.

In 2013, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine reviewed 25 years of payouts in medical malpractice lawsuits (“25-Year summary of US malpractice claims for diagnostic errors 1986–2010: an analysis from the National Practitioner Data Bank”). The researchers determined that mistakes made with diagnoses – such as a ...

There is one thing to not be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

According to numerous studies, Thanksgiving is the one holiday period each year in which most deadly car crashes usually occur.  That’s because around that time is when we typically see a jump in dangerous and negligent drivers.

We may see even more drivers than usual on the road this Thanksgiving holiday. AAA forecasts that this will be the busiest driving Thanksgiving period since 2005, with 48.5 million people traveling via automobile between November 21 and November 25.

Careless Drivers Who Cause Accidents

More cars and ...

Driver error has been documented as the leading cause of serious commercial truck accidents.  But mechanical problems, such as defective truck brakes, were recently shown to be another major issue.

The most comprehensive research done on fatal truck accidents was conducted by the federal government over 10 years ago.  The “Large Truck Crash Causation Study” reviewed data and reports of nearly 1,000 deadly truck crashes to identify potential causes.

Driver Error and Poor Truck Maintenance Leading Causes of Fatal Truck Crashes

The study identified driver error as the number one ...

When one out of every 25 hospital patients develops a preventable infection in this country, there’s reason to worry about hospital safety.  That’s why one organization measures patient safety and just released its latest grades for hospitals in Missouri and the other 49 states.

Leapfrog is a non-profit that focuses on patient safety.  Twice a year it releases patient safety grades for the nation’s hospitals.  A panel of experts reviews publicly available data and measures the information in a number of ways, including patient harm.

Encompassing 28 criteria for hospital ...

What are the leading causes of motor vehicle crashes and what can be done to prevent them? The federal government has some answers.

Earlier this year the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a report that identified dangerous driving behaviors responsible for crashes.  The report, “Countermeasures That Work: A Highway Safety Countermeasure Guide for State Highway Safety Offices, Ninth Edition” also contains recommendations for limiting reckless driving.

Fatal Crashes Caused by Drunk Drivers

In a separate report on U.S. fatal motor vehicle crashes for ...

The number of people killed in truck crashes jumped 16 percent in 2017 over the year prior.  A recent event may point to one cause for this increase.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released its findings for motor vehicle crashes in the United States for 2017.  According to the NHTSA, 37,133 people died in fatal motor vehicle crashes last year, which is a small overall decrease compared to 2016 fatal car, motorcycle and truck crashes.

In 2017, the number of deadly accidents involving all types of motor vehicles – passenger cars, light trucks, motorcycles ...