If the U.S. obesity rates continues to rise, obesity will cost the United States about $344 billion in medical-related expenses by 2018, eating up about 21% of healthcare spending, according to an analysis. These calculations are based on the projection that in 10 years 43% of Americans adults may be obese, which is roughly 30 or more pounds over a healthy weight. A study released in July showed that obese Americans cost the country about $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008, double what it was a decade ago. It now accounts for about 9.1% of medical spending.
The Philadelphia VA Medical Center was cited for eight apparent violations in using radioactive materials on nearly 100 veterans, federal inspectors have concluded. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission found that the Philadelphia VA staff failed to evaluate radiation doses or know when to report a mistake, according to a 16-page report. The brachytherapy team, for example, failed to check radiation doses for more than a year because a computer was unplugged from the hospital's network, the report said.
A core tenet of the healthcare overhaul President Obama is pushing through Congress is that medical care can be improved, and costs contained, if the country relies more on experts to determine which procedures and treatments work best, the Los Angeles Times reports. But an expert panel's recommendation that women in their 40s should no longer get annual mammograms to screen for breast cancer sparked an outcry from those who say that the federal government is more interested in saving money than in improving women's health. Some Republicans jumped on the report as the kind of government intervention in medical decisions that Obama's healthcare plan would bring, reports the Times.
Senator Charles E. Grassley wrote to 10 top medical schools to ask what they are doing about professors who put their names on ghostwritten articles in medical journals and why that practice was any different from plagiarism by students. Grassley said ghostwriting had hurt patients and raised costs for taxpayers because it used prestigious academic names to promote medical products and treatments that might be expensive or less effective than viable alternatives, reports the New York Times.
The Joint Commission's 2010 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) will take effect January 1, which begs the question: What is your plan for training residents on the NPSGs?
All too often, hospital and graduate medical education (GME) administrators overlook teaching residents about NPSGs. Instead, they educate attending physicians, assuming the message will trickle down to the residents. Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen.
Everyone in the hospital should view residents as a critical part of the hospital's care delivery team. It's just as important to teach residents about the NPSGs as it is to educate nurses, attending physicians, and other healthcare providers, says Constance K. Haan, MD, MS, senior associate dean of educational affairs and designated institutional official at University of Florida College of Medicine—Jacksonville.
Not only is the training important for maintaining patient safety, but it is also critical for compliance with Joint Commission standards, says Bud Pate, REHS, vice president of The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro, Inc., in Marblehead, MA.
"The NPSGs apply to all staff. There is no difference in expectation for residents than anyone else when it comes to complying with the goals," Pate says.
The following are suggestions on how to train residents on the NPSG:
Campus-wide grand rounds. At Haan's institution, residents must attend a campus-wide grand rounds presentation that covers the NPSGs.
"We made this a mandatory training because we wanted to send the message that patient safety is important," Haan says.
Make the information stick by showing residents how NPSGs affect their daily patient care responsibilities. Haan distributes and posts online a handout that describes the goals and how residents apply them on a local level.
For example, the handout describes what The Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) expects hospitals to do to comply with NPSG.02.05.01, regarding handoffs. It then lists the facility's procedure for handoffs and outlines what happens if residents violate one of the policies or procedures.
Joint Commission educational resources. The Joint Commission frequently offers satellite video training on the NPSGs. Many institutions treat these as town hall sessions and invite everyone—residents, attending physicians, and other healthcare staff members—to listen in.
Residents' schedules make it difficult for them to participate in every session. The GME office should work with the office responsible for Joint Commission accreditation to present training during specific department meetings or grand rounds, which residents will most likely attend.
Quality improvement projects. Encourage residents to develop quality improvement initiatives that will help the hospital meet the NPSGs.
"Being on the frontline of care delivery, they're often the ones that see the error potential," Haan says. "They often have the best ideas for how to solve problems."
To develop successful quality improvement projects, residents must have an understanding of how the healthcare system works. Several NPSGs call on organizations to consider evidence-based practices—a component of practice-based learning and improvement—when developing processes and determining their effectiveness.
Hospital committees. Invite residents to sit on hospital committees. This is a great way to expose them to patient safety initiatives. These committees routinely develop system-wide policies dictated by the NPSGs.
Resident members learn and offer input as the committee reviews hospital systems and creates processes to ensure they're in compliance.
Julie McCoy is editor for the Residency Department at HCPro, Inc. Find more graduate medical education news at www.residencymanager.com.
When it comes to paying for health overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich. That finding from a new Associated Press poll will be welcome news for House Democrats, who proposed doing just that in their sweeping remake of the medical system, which passed earlier this month and would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans. The poll found participants sour on other ways of paying for the health overhaul that is being considered in Congress, including taxing insurers on high-value coverage packages derided by President Barack Obama and Democrats as "Cadillac plans."