Transient amnesia is another possible side effect for health care professionals who work long hours and are deprived from sleep.
Approximately 700,000 – 1,000,000 patients fall in hospitals in the United States each year.
Patient deaths and injuries can be reduced by using standardized communication systems when patients are handed off from one provider to another.
Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, but often times the victims of these errors never learn the full story.
Poorer outcomes occur in surgeries performed on the weekend and holidays. A recent study hopes to remedy this situation.
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.
A new study found that the combination of antidepressants and NSAIDs results in an increased risk for hospitalization for intracranial hemorrhage.
A recent Consumer Reports article describes a link between respectful treatment by health care works and fewer preventable medical errors. Unfortunately the converse is true: disrespectful doctors and nurses make more medical errors causing harm.
Health care providers must follow up on potentially serious lab and radiology results, even if they are "incidental" findings that the tests weren’t intending or expecting to find.
A growing concern in the American health care system is a lack of nurses, often the result of hospitals putting profit margins ahead of patient safety.