Nurses are often the first provider seen by patients, particularly in the hospital setting. Unfortunately, nurses make mistakes that cause serious harm or death. These mistakes can include failing to properly monitor a patient post-operatively, failing to give necessary medication, failing to prevent a patient from falling, and failing to properly communicate important clinical findings to doctors and other nurses.
In spite of our apparent prosperity, mothers die in childbirth at greater rates in the United States than in any other developed nation.
Hand-offs – patient information communicated from one provider to another – are a source of many errors that lead to patient injury. A new study and associated solution is hoping to cut those errors and increase patient safety.
A recent article published in the Seattle Times details how Seattle-area hospitals fared in recent a Consumer Reports analysis of a hospital’s ability to prevent patients from acquiring infections.