If we can clearly define the doctor's role, says writer Dr. Michael Wilkes, it becomes far easier to select medical students who deliver on this job description. Additionally, such guidelines will then help to retool medical education (medical school, residency and continuing training) so as to create the doctor who will meet the public's expectations. And, Wilkes say, once defined, the doctor's role can be used to measure how well any doctor is performing.
Nurses at Marion County's privately run jail were forced to escort dangerous inmates, faced retaliation when they reported co-workers' errors and were sidelined because they are black, according to a recently filed lawsuit. The suit alleges mismanagement and mishandling of inmates' medications at Marion County Jail II. Five of the six plaintiffs have quit their jobs, and the suit says supervisors all but forced them out through "a deliberate and successful campaign to rid Jail II of African-American nurses."
Aurora Health Care has dropped its bid to persuade SynergyHealth, the parent of St. Joseph's Hospital near West Bend, to join the Aurora system. The decision comes two days before SynergyHealth's board is scheduled to decide among competing offers from Aurora and two other health care systems. Columbia St. Mary's and Froedtert & Community Health, which plan to combine their operations in a partnership, and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare also hope to align with SynergyHealth.
Five nonprofit hospitals in San Francisco's received $79 million in tax breaks intended to compensate them for providing free care to the city's poor and uninsured in 2007, but they spent just $16 million on charity care, according to a report. California Pacific Medical Center was responsible for the vast majority of the disparity, the report showed. California Pacific received close to $70 million in tax breaks, while spending $5.2 million on charity care.
The approval of an agreement to reinvent the management structure of Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta has been overshadowed by confirmation that county commissions could scuttle the deal. Fulton and DeKalb must approve the plan because the Georgia counties have bond agreements with Grady, said Lewis Horne, an attorney hired by Grady to help craft the lease.
"Friday Night at the ER" is a decision-making game developed by a consultant from Johns Hopkins University designed to help hospital departments to work together more efficiently. Four-player teams try to juggle a limited number of hospital beds, a relentless influx of patients and a gradual attrition of nurses to care for them. The decisions come while racing against a clock that forces faster and faster decisions, and every so often game cards announce another mini-crisis to ramp up the pressure.