Young Boy Killed by Projectile During MRI

November 2, 2011

It has been over ten years since six year old Michael Colombini died as a result of injuries that occurred during a routine MRI.  He was undergoing a post-surgery MRI after removal of a benign brain tumor when he was hit by a magnetic oxygen tank that was pulled toward the MRI machine at high [...]

Read the full article →

Unbalanced Antidepressants Use

October 28, 2011

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report provided results of a study of Americans taking antidepressants from 2005 to 2008.  The study came to two interesting conclusions that have a potential impact on patient safety.  We can outline the potential impacts of the results of this study in a problem outline, then provide [...]

Read the full article →

A Stealth Contact Lens Recall?

October 20, 2011

Avaira Toric contact lenses, manufactured by CooperVision Inc, were voluntary recalled on August 19, 2011.  The recall occurred after dozens of consumers complained about eye problems including impaired vision, eye pain and torn corneas.  According to a company statement, a manufacturing error resulted in a silicone oil residue on some contacts.  More than 8 million [...]

Read the full article →

Increased Risk of HIV Transmission with Injectable Contraceptives

October 12, 2011

A recent study has brought to light some disturbing news for women using injectable contraceptives.  The study, published October 4, 2011, has discovered that the transmission rate of HIV is nearly doubled for both women who use injectable hormones for contraception and their partners.  Specifically, the rate of HIV transmission for women is 6.61 per [...]

Read the full article →

Contaminated Cantaloupes Cause Deaths

October 6, 2011

The number of food recalls in the news lately is enough to make you lose your appetite. Let’s start by focusing on just one of the recent recalls.  Listeria from contaminated cantaloupe has caused at least 15 deaths and has sickened more than 80 across the USA.  Tests have traced the listeria back to a [...]

Read the full article →

Fixes Don’t Have to be Complicated

September 28, 2011

The main goal of doing root cause analysis is to get to the solutions at the end.  The actual analysis portion serves to provide a comprehensive, orderly way to get to those solutions.  The best way to get solutions is brainstorming by all the personnel who have a stake in the issue – and maybe [...]

Read the full article →

The Number of Accidental Child Poisoning from Medication is Increasing

September 22, 2011

A recent study in The Journal of Pediatrics revealed that the number of accidental drug overdoses by children is increasing in the United States.  An investigation of hundreds of thousands of patient records showed that the number of accidental drug poisonings among children under 5 years of age increased 22% from 2001 to 2008.  In [...]

Read the full article →

Medical Information from 20,000 Patients Posted Online

September 15, 2011

Unfortunately, privacy of health records has become an increasingly frustrating issue.  The Department of Health and Human Services revealed that records for 11 million people were potentially made public for over two years.  A recent medical records privacy breach has made the news for the length of time the records were publicly exposed.   A hospital [...]

Read the full article →

Teenager Paralyzed After Epidural Not Removed

September 9, 2011

In May 2008, a fourteen-year-old entered an English Children’s Hospital for a routine surgery to remove gallstones.  The recovery, however, was anything but routine.  The patient was given a spinal epidural to reduce pain during the operation; however, the epidural was not removed until two days later. By then, permanent damage of the spinal cord [...]

Read the full article →

Five Receive HIV Postive Organs

August 31, 2011

Waiting on a transplant list must be a nerve racking, intensely stressful time.  But what if the problems only get more complicated once the long awaited organ is transplanted?  In a terrible case of miscommunication, two respected hospitals in Taiwan recently performed five transplants using organs from a HIV positive donor.  How did this happen?  [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →