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Dan Rockwell
Joined: 10 Dec 2001
Posts: 1988
Location: Stamford, CT, USA |
 Mon Sep 09, 2002 4:31 am
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Today: September 08, 2002 at 19:00:13 PDT
Study Finds Drug Errors at Hospitals
By LINDSEY TANNER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO- More than 40 potentially harmful drug errors daily were found on average in hospitals in a new study, yet another report on a worrisome problem regulators are working to remedy.
The most common errors were giving hospitalized patients medication at the wrong time or not at all, researchers found in a study of 36 hospitals and nursing homes in Colorado and Georgia.
Errors occurred in nearly one of five doses in a typical, 300-bed hospital, which translates to about two errors per patient daily. Seven percent of the errors were considered potentially harmful.
The study, which did not evaluate death or injury rates, is published in Sept. 9th's Archives of Internal Medicine. It is based on data collected in 1999.
The rates are similar to those in other reports on drug errors, but the new study highlights a specific point in the process of getting a drug to a patient: "administering errors" made by nurses or other hospital staffers after a doctor has properly prescribed a drug.
Other studies focused on earlier steps, such as doctors prescribing the wrong drug, or pharmacists incorrectly reading a doctor's messy handwriting.
"It's a major problem, not a minor problem, and it doesn't lend itself to an easy solution," said researcher Kenneth Barker, an Auburn University professor of pharmacy care systems.
Barker and colleagues evaluated hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, nonaccredited hospitals and nursing facilities. Error rates were similar, regardless of whether an institution was accredited.
The researchers said their findings support implications in a highly publicized 1999 Institute of Medicine report suggesting that the nation's hospitals have "major systems problems."
The IOM report said medical errors contribute to more than 1 million injuries and up to 98,000 deaths annually.
Health care workers trained for the new study were sent on-site and recorded errors during 81 days of observation.
Potentially harmful errors included overdoses and instances when nurses failed to give patients prescribed medication.
The study follows the Joint Commission's recent announcement of six safety standards it will require starting in January to reduce medical errors.
The hospital regulatory agency accredits most of the nation's 6,000 hospitals. The new standards include demanding better methods of preventing drug errors, and hospitals that don't measure up could risk losing accreditation and federal money.
JCAHO says hospitals should use at least two "identifiers" - other than a patient's hospital room number - to ensure that the right drug gets to the right patient. For example, nurses should check patients' wrist bands and ask them verbally, when possible, to identify themselves, before administering a drug, said Dr. Paul Schyve, JCAHO's senior vice president.
Using a room number has been done, but is risky because a patient could be transferred without a nurse's knowledge, Schyve said.
Schyve said the study helps confirm "that there is a problem here and helps guide people to understand where some of those errors lie."
He discounted the study's finding that error rates were similar at accredited hospitals because only 12 such facilities were included.
Also, Schyve said, accredited hospitals tend to be larger and handle the sickest patients, thus may be more prone to errors.
Unaccredited hospitals include small, rural facilities that can't afford accrediting regulations, such as having quick access to an anesthesiologist for obstetric patients in case an emergency Caesarean section is needed, Schyve said.
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On the Net: Archives: http://www.archinternmed.com
JCAHO://www.jcaho.org
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2002/sep/08/090805125.html
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KrissaTMC2
Joined: 05 Feb 2002
Posts: 472
Location: Greenwich, CT, USA |
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Fri Sep 13, 2002 3:25 am
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Today: September 12, 2002 at 14:45:26 PDT
Deaths Prompt FDA Dialysis Warning
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON- Dialysis centers are being warned not to use certain blood tubing because it may be linked with five deaths and two injuries, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.
The deaths occurred in late August in dialysis centers in Indiana and Michigan using certain Medisystems tubing in connection with Baxter Healthcare Corp.'s Meridian dialysis machine, the FDA said.
The FDA said it is working with Baxter, based in Roundtop, Ill., and Medisystems Corp. of Seattle to determine the cause of the problem.
Meanwhile, Baxter has notified dialysis centers to stop using the tubing in question and use other available blood tubing instead. Blood tubing that may be associated with the deaths or injuries is Medisystems product code D3-9694/9793 or K3-9694/9793, Baxter product code 5M9694, the agency said.
The FDA said the incidents occurred at Nephrology Inc. in Mishawaka, Ind., and Physicians Dialysis Inc. in Grand Rapids, Mich.
"FDA is alerting the public and the medical community to this problem in an effort to prevent other deaths and injuries," FDA Deputy Commissioner Lester M. Crawford said in a statement.
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On the Net:
Food and Drug Administration: http://www.fda.gov
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2002/sep/12/091204126.html
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KrissaTMC2
Joined: 05 Feb 2002
Posts: 472
Location: Greenwich, CT, USA |
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Wed Oct 02, 2002 2:11 am
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Today: October 01, 2002 at 6:50:19 PDT
Tainted Drug Kills 1, Sickens 2
By DOUG JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH, N.C.- An elderly woman died and two others were sickened with meningitis after being injected with a contaminated painkiller at separate health clinics, state health officials said.
Up to 1,000 patients at the three eastern North Carolina pain clinics may have been injected with the drug, the officials said.
"We are not sure, but new cases could continue to develop," state epidemiologist Dr. Jeffrey Engel said Monday.
The three patients received spinal injections of the drug methylprednisolone - a steroid used to treat joint pain - between April and July, and later contracted meningitis, the state Department of Health and Human Services said.
A 77-year-old woman died in August after being transferred to a hospital when she became ill. Her name was not released.
Two others were treated for fungal meningitis, Engel said. A fourth case is suspected.
The drug was contaminated with Wangiella dermatitidis, a type of mold, Engel said. State health officials and investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are trying to determine how it became contaminated.
"As it is now, we just don't know how this happened," Engel said.
The clinics are FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital Pain Clinic in Pinehurst, Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro and Johnston Pain Management in Jacksonville, officials said.
Physicians investigating the case said the drug was distributed by a small pharmaceutical supplier in South Carolina. Engel declined to identify the company.
The drug was shipped to clinics in four other states: Virginia, Connecticut, South Carolina and Massachusetts. North Carolina received 90 percent - or about 800 vials - of the contaminated batch, Engel said.
As of Monday, no other states had reported problems with the drug, which was recalled by the supplier Sept. 17 and is no longer being distributed. Health officials in Massachusetts said the entire supply was sent back before it was used, Engel said.
Meningitis is an infection of the lining of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include severe headache, fever, stiff neck, vomiting and worsening back pain.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/thrive/2002/oct/01/100104324.html |
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Dan Rockwell
Joined: 10 Dec 2001
Posts: 1988
Location: Stamford, CT, USA |
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Thu Nov 14, 2002 4:52 am
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Use Those Alcohol Gels, U.S. Tells Doctors, Nurses
Oct. 25 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, who hate washing their hands after each and every patient, should go ahead and use alcohol-based gels instead, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
For years health officials have complained that healthcare workers do not wash their hand properly or often enough, and say they are carrying germs to patients. Often, fatal infections get passed on this way, especially to patients in the hospital for long-term illnesses.
The CDC said an estimated 2 million patients in the United States get an infection in hospitals each year, and about 90,000 of them die as a result.
"Clean hands are the single most important factor in preventing the spread of dangerous germs and antibiotic resistance in health care settings," CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding said in a statement.
"More widespread use of these products that improve adherence to recommended hand hygiene practices will promote patient safety and prevent infections."
Hospital staff are much more likely to use a handy bottle of gel, and the CDC says these products work well to disinfect the hands.
"Health care personnel are always on the go which sometimes makes handwashing with soap and water difficult," said Dr. Steve Solomon, acting director of CDC's healthcare quality promotion division.
"These handrubs should help promote hand hygiene because they are much more accessible than sinks, take less time to use and cause less skin irritation and dryness than many soaps."
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/SciTech/reuters20021025_391.html |
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