Patient Safety Perspective

• How to 'Fire' a Patient A healthcare attorney explains the steps to take to properly sever a physician-patient relationship.
  Medscape Internal Medicine, July 2018
• Thinking of a Fluoroquinolone? Think Again   Fluoroquinolones are often prescribed even in the absence of any indication for antibiotics, despite their risk for serious harm.
  CDC Expert Commentary, July 2018
• Malpractice: Your Staff Could Help Cause or Avert Lawsuits Your office support staff can prevent mistakes, but they can also introduce new ones and anger patients. How can you make sure they'll work to avert a malpractice lawsuit?
  Medscape Business of Medicine, July 2018
• Malpractice: When Small Oversights Lead to Major Errors In large medical groups, where several physicians may treat the same patient, doctors and other healthcare workers need to make sure that small oversights don't turn into serious patient problems.
  Cooperative of American Physicians, July 2018
• From Medical Malpractice to Murder Accusations; More Strange case takes an even stranger twist; why are million-dollar verdicts less common here?; patient's widow sues medical center.
  Medscape Business of Medicine, June 2018
• What We Can Do Together to Fight Sexual Harassment Medscape's new survey of 6200 clinicians makes it clear that sexual misconduct remains prevalent in healthcare settings. Our columnist, who lectures on the subject, offers his perspective.
  Medscape Business of Medicine, June 2018
• Malpractice Case: When Payment Should Not Be Part of the Issue Discontinuing treatment of a patient because the patient is unable to pay can lead to a malpractice lawsuit. This case shows what physicians should do to avoid being sued for abandonment of care.
  Cooperative of American Physicians, June 2018
• Recommendations to Reduce Surgical Fires and Patient Injury Dr Lila Bahadori discusses the FDA's recent safety communication reviewing the factors that contribute to surgical fires and recommending practices to reduce them.
  FDA Expert Commentaries and Interviews, May 2018
• Drug Safety Warnings and Updates: January-March 2018 Don't miss these important summaries of safety labeling changes and boxed warnings by the FDA for the first quarter of 2018.
  FDA Expert Commentaries and Interviews, May 2018
• Does Tort Reform Affect Patient Care?; More The role of tort reform in patient care; grieving parents reach settlement with VA; medical malpractice boundary set in case involving deaf student; quadruple amputee argues to exceed state damages cap.
  Medscape Business of Medicine, May 2018
• Impact of Prehabilitation on Postop Complications Dr Lowenfels comments on a study examining the outcomes of patients participating in an exercise intervention program prior to having surgery.
  Medscape General Surgery, May 2018
• Can I Be Forced to Work at an Affiliate Hospital? A nurse is unhappy about being forced to drive to another city to work when census is low in her hospital.
  Medscape Nurses, May 2018
• Malpractice Case: Malpractice Risks When Refilling Prescriptions Some physicians assume that patients will remember their advice or follow drug label warnings. This case illustrates why physicians need to monitor patients' use of drugs during the refill process.
  Cooperative of American Physicians, May 2018
• Plastic Surgeon Allegedly Watched Porn While Operating; More Bizarre video behavior is one of multiple claims; decades-old cap scorned as 'minimum wage'; severely injured woman receives mega award.
  Medscape Business of Medicine, April 2018
• Would You Report an Impaired Physician? Many Doctors Won't Research shows that although most doctors say they'd report an impaired colleague, many fail to do so when confronted with the situation. What is their reasoning?
  Medscape Business of Medicine, April 2018
• It's Time to Talk to Your Patients About Guns   Dr Arefa Cassoobhoy talks about counseling patients on gun safety.
  Medscape Internal Medicine, April 2018
• Frailty in the Older Adult: A Surgical Deterrent? Surgeons are starting to take frailty seriously, in an effort to thwart surgical complications the elderly.
  Medscape Nurses, March 2018
• Survival of the Slimiest: The Persistent Nature of Biofilms Biofilms are hardier than we imagined, playing an underappreciated role in nosocomial transmission.
  Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), March 2018
• Want Safer Nurse Staffing? Join the Movement The time to remain quiet about the dangers of unsafe staffing levels is long past. Let's raise our voices until we are heard. Make plans to join us in the nation's capital on April 26, 2018.
  Medscape Nurses, March 2018
• The Physician's Role in Reporting Sexual Abuse   The sexual abuse of members of the US gymnastics team underscores why such events should be reported. Here's why it's also important to tell patients what to expect during a physical examination.
  Medscape Business of Medicine, March 2018