Category: Patient Safety & Outcomes

In the late-’90s, I entered the healthcare workforce as an internist at Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital. I was called to medicine, like so many of my peers, by a desire to help people, to heal them.

Conceptually, “do not resuscitate” orders are straightforward medical documents. However, confusion among medical staff can lead to inappropriate care or patient harm, The New York Times reported Aug. 26.

About 140 infants were abducted from healthcare facilities between 1964 and April 2024, and the number continued to decline, NPR affiliate WHYY reported Aug. 22.

Two-thirds of communication errors in healthcare relate to patient handoffs, according to The Joint Commission. After finding these handoffs were a root cause of miscommunication safety events, MD Anderson Cancer Center sought to flip the script. 

West Orange, N.J.-based RWJBarnabas Health is working to harness the power of predictive modeling to identify early signs of patient deterioration, enabling clinical teams across its 12 hospitals to intervene more quickly and save lives.

Long COVID presents itself differently in elementary school-age children than it does in adolescents, according to research published Aug. 21 in JAMA. 

IU Health Bloomington (Ind.) Hospital was warned by a fire marshal to remove patients from its hallways, The Herald-Times reported Aug. 21.

Pharmacy, cancer and musculoskeletal conditions remain the top drivers of increased healthcare costs for employers, but cardiovascular conditions are on the rise as well, a Business Group on Health report found.

CMS’ new safety measures are a welcome addition for Peter Silver, MD, senior vice president, chief quality officer and associate chief medical officer of New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health.

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Nemours Children’s Health received a $7 million donation to fund its cancer research and support its music therapy program, according to an Aug. 20 news release shared with Becker’s.