A nonprofit group focused on making medical care safer annually grades hospitals based on input from the facilities and government agencies. Recently it let patients have their say regarding healthcare safety.
The Leapfrog Group twice a year publishes safety report cards for hospitals across the country. It offers an overall letter grade – “A” being the best and “F” a failing grade – for each facility based on scores issued for a wide variety of factors linked to preventable medical errors, including:
· Hospital-acquired infections
· Surgical mistakes
· Communication ...
Distracted driving is a known cause of serious motor vehicle crashes. Unfortunately, a recent report indicates that distracted driving is on the rise.
In March Travelers Insurance released its “2021 Travelers Risk Index,” a survey of drivers that focused on distracted driving. It found a higher level of distracted drivers on the roads now as compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic, based on its “2020 Travelers Risk Index” survey.
Drivers Using Cell Phones
The survey responses indicate a significant uptick in dangerous driving as:
· 26% said they have texted or emailed ...
About one out every five patients suffers disabling injuries or death following surgery from anesthesia issues that should have been addressed by healthcare providers. This is based on a new study of anesthesia medical malpractice lawsuits.
Anesthesiologists provide sedation medication necessary for most operations. They may also monitor patients following a procedure.
Safe Anesthesia Care
The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation is an organization focused on improving the safety of patients during anesthesia care. On its website it features its list of top 10 priorities ...
How many unsafe big-rig and commercial truck drivers can be found on the road in a week? According to a group of experts, over 10,000!
The Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Alliance is a nonprofit coalition of safety officials, law enforcement and trucking industry representatives in North America. Its goal is to make commercial trucking safer.
CVSA hosts a series of annual events designed to prevent some of the most common causes of serious truck crashes, including:
· Tired truckers
· Speeding truck drivers
During these events law enforcement officials encounter ...
Distracted driving among commercial truck drivers is a dangerous behavior that can lead to a catastrophic truck crash. It is also a chief cause for concern of fleet managers and other professionals who supervise them.
J.J. Keller & Associates is a nationwide consultant on safety issues. In April its research arm released the findings of a survey of trucking fleet managers (“The State of Fleet Management — Insights on Today's Fleet Manager”) that revealed safety is generally a top worry for this management group.
The study also revealed that there is a big gap between this ...
Radiology mistakes are asserted in a small percentage of all U.S. medical malpractice lawsuits. But the clear majority of medical malpractice claims that do include radiology diagnostic errors are filed on behalf of cancer patients.
That’s a key finding in research published online late May in the Journal of the American College of Radiology. The study, “Oncologic Errors in Diagnostic Radiology: A 10-Year Analysis Based on Medical Malpractice Claims,” reviewed medical malpractice lawsuits from 2008 to 2017.
The study found that radiology, or imaging, was the primary ...
The federal government in March expressed concern about commercial trucking safety, noting an upward trend in fatal crashes involving semi-trucks. Just over 5,000 people were killed in truck crashes in 2019, the most recent year of finalized data. That’s a 48% jump from 2009.
But the effects from a change in federal rules made last year – potentially putting more tied truck drivers on the road - may factor into deadly truck accidents.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration oversees the safety of large commercial vehicles, such as 18-wheelers. It is responsible for ...
The most common medical error cardiology patients suffer is misdiagnosis, and over half of cardiology patients who were victims of any medical error died as a result.
This was found in research released late last year by The Doctors Company, a medical malpractice insurance provider to physicians. The company reviewed closed medical malpractice lawsuits and claims over treatment mistakes with cardiology patients between 2014 and 2019. A total of 210 such medical malpractice cases were included in the research (“Cardiology Closed Claims Study”).
The findings outlined where ...
Seeing a pair of headlights coming at you the wrong way on the highway is terrifying. Wrong- way highway crashes are often fatal and on the rise in recent years. A notable research organization recently looked into what causes them.
In March the AAA Foundation For Traffic Safety – the research arm of AAA – released a study on deadly wrong-way crashes (“Fatal Wrong-Way Crashes on Divided Highways”). The organization noted that between 2010 and 2018, nearly 4,000 people were killed in the United States in wrong-way crashes.
Highway Wrong-Way Crashes on the Rise
It also found that ...
More St. Louis-area hospitals received a “C” than an “A” in the most recent nationwide grading of medical centers for patient safety and protecting them from dangerous medical errors.
The Leapfrog Group released its spring 2021 Hospital Safety Grades in April. The organization is a 20-year-old not-for-profit focused on improving the nation’s healthcare quality. Part of its efforts is to issue hospital patient safety report cards every fall and spring.
St. Louis Hospitals and Medical Errors
The grades, which cover some 2,700 U.S. hospitals, are given in traditional ...
RSS Feed