A recent study by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center shows that patients receive better care when hospitals employ more nurses. However, shortages in nursing staff is a nationwide issue, and researchers say that mandating certain staff levels could ultimately force facilities to cut back services. This could, in turn, have a negative impact on patient care.
The patient experience is profiled in in a new book about deadly hospital errors, "Fatal Care: Survive in the U.S. Health System." The book's author says he wrote it to alert the public to the fact that 98,000 patient deaths occur as a result of medical errors in U.S. hospitals annually, and about half of them are preventable. There is little public information available to help patients research a hospital's safety records before seeking care there, he adds.
North Carolina-based Duke University Health System has settled claims by patients who alleged they suffered health problems after being exposed to hydraulic fluid on surgical instruments at two Duke hospitals in 2004. The settlement remains confidential, but resolves claims against Duke by an unknown number of clients. Dozens of patients who were exposed to the hydraulic fluid at Durham Regional and Duke Raleigh hospitals have now sued the companies that contracted with Duke to sterilize the equipment.
Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, is supporting the expansion of federal government efforts to restrict Medicare payments to hospitals for the cost of healthcare associated with certain infections and medical errors acquired during treatment. In comments submitted to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Consumers Union said that a proposal by the agency to limit such payments would provide hospitals with a strong new financial incentive to improve patient care. Consumers Union also urged CMS to strengthen the proposed regulations by expanding the types of preventable hospital acquired conditions that would result in lower Medicare payments and to clarify protections to ensure patients are treated fairly and get the care they need.
A study by the Leapfrog Group has found that hospitals that perform well on the Leapfrog Hospital Survey have lower mortality and better quality of care than those who either didn't perform as well on the survey, or who chose not to complete it. Additionally, the study, published in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, shows that hospitals that had begun to implement Leapfrog safety practices also had lower mortality rates.
More than 38% of consumers in the U.S., among those who participated in a recent survey conducted by PCR, are unsure which hospitals in their area provide the best quality of care, despite an increasing number of facilities that are providing consumers with healthcare data. A Hospital Compare Web site can help, too, but according to PCR, only about 8.9% of consumers are aware of its existence.