St. Louis has more distracted drivers than just about anywhere in the United States. In fact, only two metropolitan areas are home to more than the Gateway to the West.
Distracted driving remains a major cause of fatal car crashes. In its most recent report on distracted driving (Distracted Driving 2018), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in April stated that 2,841 people died in distracted-affected crashes.
In another study, conducted in January, an automobile insurance internet portal called The Zebra provides a further look at distracted drivers. The company ...
Mistakes made in administrating medications are often serious, especially when those mistakes are made with expectant mothers. A study published earlier this year highlights how common drug errors are among this group of patients.
Types of Serious Medication Errors
Serious medication errors involve one or more of these issues:
· Wrong medication
· Wrong dosage
· Wrong patient
· Wrong administration route
· Wrong time
A survey released in February focused on medication orders given to the wrong patient. All patients in the study (“46: Wrong Patient Orders in Obstetrics: An ...
Of the countless events either cancelled or postponed this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, one is the 2020 International Roadcheck conducted by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. It is an annual three-day set of random roadside inspections of commercial trucks. This year’s event was to be held in May but was postponed indefinitely.
Law enforcement and safety officials would have pulled over thousands of tractor-trailers and conducted thorough inspections of their rigs to uncover unsafe and dangerous commercial trucks.
Judging by last year’s results, let alone all ...
Some estimates say that as many as 15% of all medical diagnoses are incorrect. Now a new study concludes that certain serious medical conditions are often misdiagnosed.
A medical misdiagnosis can take three forms:
· Missed diagnosis
· A wrong diagnosis
· Delayed diagnosis
Each type of preventable medical error can seriously hurt patients. According to the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine, an organization that works to improve medical diagnoses, between 40,000 and 80,000 patients die each year in this country due to a misdiagnosis.
This organization funded a study (“Rate ...
New data show that, while overall deaths from traffic accidents continue to decline, fatal commercial trucking accidents continue to increase. Yet the trucking industry puts up roadblocks over proposed measures to increase commercial trucking safety.
In October 2019, the federal government reported the number people killed in motor vehicle crashes dropped 2.4% from 2018 to 2017 – 913 fewer deaths. This month, the federal government published a preliminary approximation of fatalities for 2019 (“Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2019”), which ...
Despite fewer cars on Missouri’s roads because of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of fatal car crashes in the Show-Me State is up over the previous year.
In April the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Missouri’s fatal motor vehicle crashes were up 4% over the year prior. According to statistics from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, that trend continued into May, with the number of people killed in Missouri car wrecks up 5% compared to the same time in May 2019.
That same Post-Dispatch story documented another trend related to COVID-19: With less traffic on the road, there ...
It’s a decidedly mixed bag for patient safety in St. Louis-area hospitals. As preventable medical errors are estimated to be the third leading cause of death in the United States, this is not comforting news.
The Leapfrog Group, a leading nonprofit patient safety organization, annually publishes safety grades for hospitals across the country. It publishes the grades, which are based on reports of adverse events and other factors, in the spring and fall.
Its Spring 2020 patient safety grades – from “A” to “F” - were released earlier this month.
How Safe are St. Louis ...
Add one more event mothballed because of the COVID-19 pandemic: A nationwide effort to find truckers who are driving carelessly.
This month was supposed to be National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. It was shelved. Truckers who are driving distracted was one focus of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s International Roadcheck, scheduled for May 5-7. The CVSA in late March announced it was postponing this safety event.
The CVSA is a nonprofit organization of safety and law enforcement officials whose mission is to make trucking safer throughout North America. One way ...
A medical malpractice insurance company recently published a study of medical malpractice lawsuits over anesthesiologists’ mistakes. It’s a follow-up to a previous study the company conducted and shows not much has changed. Patients still die at a relatively high rate from this type of surgical error.
In February the Doctors Company released the findings of its latest research (“Anesthesiology Closed Claims Study”). It includes resolved anesthesia medical malpractice lawsuits for the years 2013 through 2018. It is a comparative look at its previous study for such ...
April was supposed to be National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. But as with so many other things in today’s world, this 30-day educational effort for one of the most dangerous and negligent driving behaviors has been postponed. Despite there being fewer cars on the road for the time being, distracted driving still poses an especially high risk to others in Missouri.
Missouri a “Worst State” for Distracted Driving
Missouri is one of the “top” states for distracted driving. Moneywise.com analyzed several sources of data, including statistics from the National ...
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