Information Center
Risk Management News: Healthcare and Patient Safety
Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA): Patient Safety News
A Video News Show for Health Professionals. New broadcasts monthly, with online video and transcripts.
New Medical Products: FDA Licenses New Hemophilia Treatment
FDA recently licensed a new treatment for hemophilia A called Xyntha. Xyntha, which is made by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, is a genetically engineered version of factor VIII, a protein essential for blood clotting that is decreased or absent in patients ...
Recalls and Safety Alerts: Unsafe Use of Extended-Release Tussionex Suspension
FDA is cautioning healthcare professionals, patients and caregivers about the unsafe use of Tussionex Pennkinetic Extended-Release Suspension. This product is a long-acting cough suppressant containing hydrocodone, a narcotic antitussive, and chlorp...
Recalls and Safety Alerts: Liver Injury with Tysabri
Biogen Idec and Elan Pharmaceuticals are warning healthcare professionals about reports of clinically significant liver injury in patients taking Tysabri (natalizumab). Tysabri is a monoclonal antibody used to treat certain patients with relapsing f...
Recalls and Safety Alerts: Updated Labeling Changes for Tamiflu and Relenza
Roche Laboratories has updated information on neuropsychiatric events for Tamiflu (oseltamivir phosphate), a drug that's used to treat or prevent influenza in patients 1 year and older. The revised labeling reminds practitioners that some patients...
Recalls and Safety Alerts: New Instructions for Using Talecris IG Syringes
Talecris Biotherapeutics has revised the directions for administering some of the company's immune globulin products -- ones that come in uncalibrated prefilled 2 mL syringes with fixed needles. The products are HyperRAB? S/D , which is an anti-rabi...
Recalls and Safety Alerts: Hepatotoxicity with Prezista
FDA and Tibotec Therapeutics are alerting healthcare professionals about the risk of hepatotoxicity associated with the antiretroviral drug Prezista (darunavir). Prezista, co-administered with ritonavir and other antiretroviral agents, is used to tr...
Recalls and Safety Alerts: Information on Mortality Rates with the AneuRx® St...
In a recent Public Health Notification, FDA informed healthcare professionals about new data on mortality rates associated with the AneuRx® Stent Graft System. This endovascular graft, made by Medtronic, is used as an alternative to open surgery in ...
Preventing Medical Errors: Mistakenly Swallowing Inhaler Capsules
FDA has issued an advisory about the danger of mistakenly swallowing Spiriva (tiotropium bromide inhalation powder) and Foradil (formoterol fumarate inhalation powder) inhalation capsules. These capsules are intended to be used with inhalation devic...
Patients Are Asking: Choosing the Correct Test Strip for a Blood Glucose Meter
FDA is aware of cases where patients have used LifeScan OneTouch Ultra test strips with their Abbott Precision Xtra blood glucose meters. As a result, the meters recorded lower-than-expected blood glucose levels, which can have serious clinical ...
More Health Care and Patient Safety News
Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety Launches New Patient Safety Practices Online Resource
The Joint commission International Center for Patient Safety announced the launch of a new "in-development" Patient Safety Practices resource on the Center's website. This beta version of the new online database offers a rich collection of practices and interventions for preventing adverse events while also soliciting user suggestions for enhancing the content and funtionality of the website.
Patient Safety Practices: An online Resource for Improving Patient Safety is available at http://www.jcipatientsafety.org/psp
FAQs for the 2006 National Safety Goals
Questions about the applicability of the National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) and associated requirements.
JCAHO 2007 National Patient Safety Goals Implementation Expectations
Implementation expectations have been added to each requirement and appear in the same format as elements of performance (EPs) in standards. In addition, rationales have been added to some of the requirements. Organizations providing care relevant to these goals are responsible for implementing the applicable requirements or effective alternatives. Compliance with these requirements is assessed throughout the accreditation cycle, through on-site surveys, and the Periodic Performance Review (PPR).
Universal Protocol
Frequently Asked Questions about the Universal Protocol for Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure, Wrong Person Surgery
Could You Be Having Surgery in 2006? Be Ready to Communicate About Your Anesthesia
In a typical year, more than 40 million surgical procedures are performed in U.S. hospitals. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) wants to remind patients who are facing surgery and other invasive procedures to communicate with their anesthesiologist about their anesthesia.
Health Care Risk Management Articles
Improving Surgical Site Infections Tracking
Lessons from a hospital’s two-year surveillance study could simplify the job of monitoring and documenting your post-op infection rates.
Besides the fact that most SSIs surface only after patients are long gone from your facility, surgical site infections in ambulatory surgery patients haven’t been extensively studied. The reason is simple: Traditional surveillance methods don’t let us comprehensively detect surgical site infections in ambulatory surgery. You can probably guess why.
Inside Local Anesthesia
Understanding the intricacies of dosing and side effects can help make administration safer.
Though surgical administrators often don’t deal directly with the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of local anesthetics, it wouldn’t hurt to gain an understanding of these complexities from an anesthesia provider’s perspective. Doing so will give you the ability to discuss with your providers the way local anesthesia is used in your facility and will help you set standards of care, enhancing safety.
Improving Cataract Procedures
How one surgery center benchmarked its way to improved cataract procedures.
You manage your employees, your case costs and your procedure times, and you’re not careless. Your facility turns a profit. Why compare it to other facilities? The accrediting agencies require you to, for one thing. But also, patients deserve to be treated, and staff members deserve to work, where people are striving for excellence. Competition breeds excellence, and numbers don’t lie. Benchmarking is essential.
Preventable Errors
How four wrong-site surgeries could have been avoided.
In patient safety and risk management circles, wrong-site surgery is considered one of the “never events.” Healthcare industry observers estimate, however, that as many as 4,000 wrong-site, wrong-patient or wrong-procedure incidents occur each year, not to mention an incalculable number of near-misses. Four examples of wrong-site surgeries, adapted from actual incidents, are described below. After each scenario, experts offer their views on what went wrong and what would have been the right thing to do.