Archive: April 2013

High rates of hospital re-admissions not only inflate health-care costs but also compromise patient safety. A number of efforts have been aimed at reducing re-admissions. One such effort, the State Action on Avoidable Re-hospitalizations Initiative, is seeking to cut the rate of hospital re-admissions in Michigan, Washington,…

Although most of us would like to believe that all hospital patients receive equal medical treatment regardless of the types of insurance they have, that may not be the case. A new study suggests that patients with “better” insurance plans are more…

Technorati code: EN43MSVQ3RNG  The issue of medical errors resulting from alarm fatigue has been prominent for some time, and a major hospital accrediting group has just added its voice to concerns over this phenomenon. The Joint Commission, an independent organization that…

Any patient would agree that a doctor who reports to work feeling stressed, unenthusiastic, and unmotivated is more likely to commit medical errors. A new survey finds that an alarming number of doctors across the country experience these signs of…

A regulatory effort aimed at reducing the risk of medical errors by fatigued medical residents has failed to have the desired result. If anything, medical errors have actually increased since the regulation went into effect. The change, enacted in 2011,…

Patients who have emergency surgery on weekends may have extra reason for concern. According to an analysis, weekend surgeries may involve a higher risk of complications than the same surgeries performed on weekdays. The researchers analyzed data involving 7,112 surgeries for…