New research suggests that some patients develop a potentially deadly blood infection from their implanted cardiac devices because bacterial cells in their bodies have gene mutations that allow them to stick to the devices.
By following a few basic rules for handling central venous catheters, nurses and doctors at a group of children's hospitals have, in three years, prevented nearly a thousand infections and saved more than a hundred children's lives and millions of dollars, according to a study by investigators at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and elsewhere
The Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI) has activated the first nationwide system to collect individual adverse events from anesthesia, pain management and perioperative care.
Engineering researchers at the University of Arkansas have developed mathematical optimization models that will make radiation treatment plans safer and more efficient than conventional plans.
Septicemia, an illness caused by blood infections with bacteria such as E. coli and MRSA, was the single most expensive condition treated in U.S. hospitals in 2009.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), an important diagnostic test, has traditionally been off limits to more than 2 million people in the United States who have an implanted pacemaker to regulate heart rhythms or an implanted defibrillator to prevent sudden cardiac death. Now, in a study published in the October 4 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, cardiologists at Johns Hopkins report that a protocol they developed has proved effective in enabling patients with implanted cardiac devices to safely undergo an MRI scan.
“Too busy,” and “too complicated.” These are the typical excuses one might expect when medical professionals are asked why they fail to use online error-reporting systems designed to improve patient safety and the quality of care. But, Johns Hopkins investigators found instead that the most common reason among radiation oncologists was fear of getting into trouble and embarrassment.
An analysis of Medicare data indicates that older patients who had a stent placed in the carotid artery (a major artery of the neck and head) by a physician operator who performed less than six of the procedures a year, or if the procedure was conducted early in the operator’s career, had an increased risk of death 30 days after the stent placement, according to a study in the September 28 issue of JAMA.
For the third year, Hospital for Special Surgery is the only hospital in New York State with an infection rate that is significantly lower than the state average for hip replacement or revision surgeries, according to the 2010 report on hospital infection rates just released by the State Dept. of Health.
Immediately after transplantation, patients should minimize or avoid using certain anti-rejection drugs.
A team of researchers says it has discovered why so many people undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), especially in newer high-strength machines, get vertigo, or the dizzy sensation of free-falling, while inside or when coming out of the tunnel-like machine.
In a study of complication rates following prostate biopsy among Medicare beneficiaries, Johns Hopkins researchers have found a significant rise in serious complications requiring hospitalization. The researchers found that this common outpatient procedure, used to diagnose prostate cancer, was associated with a 6.9 percent rate of hospitalization within 30 days of biopsy compared to a 2.9 percent hospitalization rate among a control group of men who did not have a prostate biopsy. The study, which will be published in the November 2011 issue of The Journal of Urology, was posted early online.
Stricter requirements enacted this fall to protect the health of patients, families and staff.
University of Maryland BioPark tenants get a primer on “Inside the FDA” and how best to work with the huge regulator.
New initiative encourages clinicians and patients to engage in effective two-way communication to ensure safer care and better health outcomes.
People with chronic illnesses are more likely to take long-term medications according to doctors’ instructions if the packaging includes a reminder system, according to a new review of evidence.
A year after hospital discharge, the majority of stroke patients are listening to doctor’s orders when it comes to taking their prescribed secondary stroke prevention medications, new data out of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center shows. However, there is room for improvement, according to investigators.
How doctors, nurses and other health care professionals can be better prepared to reduce medical mistakes and improve patient care is the focus of several studies published in a special issue of the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied.
Contrary to longstanding assumptions, new findings suggest the work intensity of physicians across several specialties is fairly equal. The study, funded by the American Academy of Neurology along with several other medical associations and published online ahead of print in the journal Medical Care, provides the groundwork for the development of a more reliable, scientific measurement of physician work intensity that may guide future national policy in patient safety, practice management and payment. The results represent the second phase of the two-phase project, and measured the work intensity associated with actual patient care of 108 neurologists, family physicians, general internists and surgeons in the southeast United States.
LifeBridge Health centers in Baltimore, Md., have begun using a new device that makes drawing blood and inserting IVs an easier experience for patients.
A Johns Hopkins Children’s Center study of more than 3,000 hospitalized children shows that those colonized but not sick with the antibiotic-resistant bacterium MRSA are at considerable risk for developing full-blown infections.
Temporary staff members working in a hospital’s fast-paced emergency department are twice as likely as permanent employees to be involved in medication errors that harm patients, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.
New research from the Jefferson Heart Institute shows that patients in the United States who receive cardiac electrophysiological devices (CIEDs), including permanent pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are now at greater risk of contracting an infection over the life span of the device.
A quality improvement program that saves lives by dramatically reducing potentially lethal bloodstream infections in hospital intensive-care units across the state of Michigan also saves those hospitals an average of $1.1 million a year, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.
UCLA researchers have discovered a molecular process by which the body can defend against the effects of Clostridium difficile, an intestinal disease that impacts several million in the U.S. each year. A commonly acquired hospital infection, the disease has become more common, more severe and harder to cure mainly due to the emergence of a new, highly virulent strain of the bacteria that causes it.
1) Dialysis patients depend on technology to stay alive, so are very vulnerable after disasters; 2) Dialysis patients of all ages, races, and education and income levels lack disaster preparedness; 3) More than 300,000 patients in the United States undergo dialysis, and their care is in jeopardy during a disaster.
A pharmacist-directed anticoagulation service improves the coordination of care from the hospital to an outpatient clinic for patients treated with the anticoagulant drug warfarin, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.
A new study from the University of Haifa has found that walking around the ward during hospitalization significantly reduces the length of the older patient's stay. "Given the over-occupancy of many hospitals, this finding can be of great importance," the researchers stated.
Depending on the amount and age of the stored blood used, there is evidence that transfusion can lead to complications including infection, organ failure and death. New research from found that these complications are likely due to red blood cell breakdown during storage, implying that transfused blood may need to be stored in a different way.
A grad student team has invented a device to reduce the risk of infection, clotting and narrowing of the blood vessels in patients who need blood-cleansing dialysis because of kidney failure.
Only about 10 percent of patients with a certain type of heart attack who need to be transferred to another hospital for a PCI (procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries) are transferred within the recommended time of 30 minutes, according to a study in the June 22/29 issue of JAMA.
Implementation of real-time monitoring reduces risk and proper use of prophylaxis.
Ever since the Institute of Medicine issued its landmark report "To Err Is Human" in 1999, significant attention has been paid to improving patient safety in hospitals nationwide.
NYU Langone First Hospital in Northeast to Use Near Infrared Palm Scanning Technology to Identify Patients.
In the past decade, surgery death rates have dropped dramatically for even the most complicated surgeries. The University of Michigan Health System study in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine reveals the decline is linked with more surgeries shifting to safer, high volume hospitals, particularly surgeries to treat pancreatic and esophageal cancers.
Physicians can help their patients follow prescribed treatments and achieve healthier results – particularly in chronic disease management – by using a three-pronged strategy developed by a team of researchers from the University of California, Riverside, Texas State University-San Marcos, and La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif.
A new $1.2 million study led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute seeks to develop software for calculating and tracking a patient’s radiation exposure from diagnostic X-ray CT scans. Funded by the U.S. Institutes of Health (NIH) National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), the software aims to arm radiologists, medical physicists, and patients with more accurate data for making informed decisions about the potential risks and benefits of CT scan procedures.
Can we be certain that pain medications considered safe for adults, based on extensive clinical data and experience, are equally safe for use in young children? Pediatric pain experts discussed this question today in a panel session at the American Pain Society (APS), www.ampainsoc.org, annual scientific meeting and agreed more short term and long-term clinical data are needed to provide assurances about the safety and efficacy of several pain medications in children.
New program that seeks to improve the quality of complex processes by identifying and removing the causes of errors.
Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have found that nutrient supplementation, like the kind that is found in leafy greens, spinach and lettuce, may reduce the damage to the heart caused by a powerful anti-cancer drug.
Obese patients undergoing colon surgery are 60 percent more likely to develop dangerous and costly surgical-site infections than their normal-weight counterparts, new Johns Hopkins research suggests. These infections, according to findings published in the journal Archives of Surgery, cost an average of $17,000 more per patient, extend hospital stays and leave patients at a three-times greater risk of hospital readmission.
Telemonitoring may offer promise for patients in remote locations without access to specially trained intensive care physicians. However, a recent study indicates telemonitoring does not offer improved clinical outcomes compared to patients who receive standard care.
Loyola University Medical Center infectious disease expert say both are on the rise in area; more study needed.
Sepsis is a major killer in hospital intensive care units. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found that manipulating a genetic factor that can launch or throttle the body’s defenses can improve survival rates during bacterial infection.
U-M Health System launches Quality & Safety site and posts wide range of data about its care – with more to come.
Roswell Park Cancer Institute has released Quality 2011, the Institute's first significant compilation of outcomes and quality data to appear in print.
ICUs in both large and small hospitals stopped central line-associated bloodstream infections for up to 2 years after using a targeted quality improvement initiative.
Medication mishaps are a widely recognized problem in health care and a new study finds that outpatient settings, not ERs, deal with them most.
Many patients on dialysis may not understand medical information critical to their wellbeing, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that clinicians must understand and address the limited health literacy of patients with kidney disease.
Many patients on dialysis may not understand medical information critical to their wellbeing, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results suggest that clinicians must understand and address the limited health literacy of patients with kidney disease.
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