How to prevent medication errors from occurring
Nowadays, with the wide range of medications on the market, health professionals in Missouri and across the country should do all they can to avoid making a mistake when administering medication to patients. There are some basic procedures that can help keep medication errors from happening. One such procedure is for nurses to be familiar […]
Read MoreThe duty of care in medical malpractice lawsuits
Missouri residents who file a medical malpractice lawsuit must be able to establish that a duty of care was owed to them by the health care practitioner or facility involved. If they are unable to demonstrate that such a duty was owed, they will be unable to seek compensation for any injury, loss or damage […]
Read MoreAminoglycoside antibiotics are related to infant hearing loss
In Missouri and around the country, it is possible that some newborns will have bacterial infections that are life-threatening. They may be treated with a particular class of antibiotic that could have the side effect of hearing loss. These medicines, although dangerous to the inner ear, protect the infant from a worsened medical condition or […]
Read MoreMisdiagnosis may affect treatment choices
As Missouri residents may know, some diseases are more commonly misdiagnosed than others because symptoms sometimes resemble those resulting from other illnesses. When a physician orders the appropriate testing to challenge a differential diagnosis, finding the correct one is possible. This allows the patient to receive the right treatment earlier. A missed or delayed diagnosis […]
Read MoreCertain patients misdiagnosed under new COPD guidelines
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in Missouri might be surprised that a new study suggests that guidelines for diagnosing the condition is leading in some cases to a misdiagnosis. Conducted in the United Kingdom, the study highlights the resulting risks as well. The Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease defined airway obstruction in 2001 as […]
Read MoreHow to be proactive when hospitalized
As Missouri residents may know, medical errors may result in a hospital stay becoming longer than anticipated. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, hospital errors might be responsible for over 400,000 deaths of patients per year that are labeled as premature. Being proactive when faced with a hospital stay is a good […]
Read MoreSome of the causes of surgical errors
A study recently released by the Mayo Clinic has shed some insight into the ways some medical errors can occur due to human behavior. The researchers studied 69 “never events”, called that because they should never occur, that took place over a five-year period at the Minnesota clinic during which a total of 1.5 million […]
Read MorePre-surgery education is important to patient outcomes
Missouri health care providers may find that good education prior to surgery can improve their patients’ outcomes. Research by Gallup has indicated that although patients are typically committed to following instructions given for their post-surgery activity and care, other important areas affecting outcomes are not addressed as thoroughly as they should be. Less than half […]
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