A Minnesota bill under consideration would define nurse assignment limits as "the maximum number of patients for whom one direct care registered nurse can be responsible during a shift." The number of nurses per unit would be reflective of patient acuity, the severity of patients' illnesses or medical conditions. Carol Diemert, nursing practice specialist with the Minnesota Nurses Association, said if a nurse's patient load is four, adding one patient would increase the risk of death by 7 percent.
Roughly a quarter of Americans with disabilities age 65 and older reported using at least one prescription drug deemed inappropriate for persons their age, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Only about half as many of elderly people without disabilities used inappropriate drugs, according to the analysis.
Using the Internet, patients can now make sure the medical professionals they are seeing, or considering, are licensed, find out if they have board certification in their specialties, see quality ratings for the hospitals where they practice, get feedback from their patients, and weigh in with their own opinions. Some Web sites, including RateMDs.com and healthgrades.com, are also trying to get at such hard-to-measure issues by collecting patient ratings and asking them to share experiences.
MRSA strains are increasingly infecting people in Georgia, even outside of healthcare settings. In Georgia, more than 1,700 people have been hospitalized in the past three years with severe MRSA infections, according to reports filed with the state health department. At least 62 have died, including several children with a deadly form of MRSA pneumonia.
No official statistics are kept on how many Americans travel overseas for medical care, but one estimate places the number at 150,000 in 2006. In response, a medical tourism industry has grown to facilitate global health travel. A trade association to represent these companies formed last year, and a major insurer started a separate company to help members seek international care.
Some physicians and consumer advocates worry that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling and a pending case could take away the legal aspect of patient safety when it comes to medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Justices ruled earlier this year that patients injured by certain medical devices approved by the Food and Drug Administration cannot sue the product's manufacturer. The court said federal regulations preempt state-based liability claims challenging the design or labeling of medical devices that clear the FDA's approval process.
Since Carole Moss's son died from a drug-resistant staph infection in 2006, she has lobbied tirelessly to change the laws governing the reporting of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Moss believes her son caught the bacterium after undergoing a series of hospital tests for a condition he was born with. Her concern is growing among lawmakers, insurance companies and hospital administrators as they tackle the deadly and expensive problem of hospital-acquired infections.
Mike Murphy, president and CEO of Sharp HealthCare, is committed to the idea that quality and continuous improvement drive comprehensive business results. Murphy is so convinced about his theory that since 2001, he has led multiple projects using Malcolm Baldrige evaluation criteria and Lean Six Sigma improvement processes to make sweeping changes at the not-for-profit healthcare organization.
Peter Pronovost, MD, a Johns Hopkins University researcher made famous by his checklist study, has been named to Time magazine's 100 list. Pronovost, 43, began investigating hospital-acquired infections at Johns Hopkins' hospital in 2001 and concluded that arming physicians with a chart reminding them of each step in routine procedures drastically reduces the medical errors that lead to such infections. Pronovost says the checklist protocol could be rolled out nationwide within two years for less than $3 million.
A New Hampshire man has developed a device that could help healthcare professionals tackle the increasing scourge of drug-resistant infections, saving billions of dollars and countless lives. He has developed the technology to kill Noroviruses, C. diff, MRSA and other problem viruses and bacteria using a section of the ultraviolet light spectrum to bombard them with killing high-energy photons.
