 |
|
|
|
Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources | HOME PAGE Health Club 101 DIRECT Natural Supplements | HGH Energizer | Eazol Natural Pain Relief | Revitol Cellulite Solution IBS Irritable Bowel Syndrome | Menopause Symptoms Relief | Insomnia Sleeping Aid Articles & Information Medicine | Nutrition | Exercise | Fitness Equipment | Pregnancy Bodybuilding Supplements | Weight Loss | Breast Cancer | Diabetes Category Site Map |
 |
Increasing Patient Care and Reducing Liability in Seven Simple Steps
When an unconscious patient arrives in the ED, every hospital agrees that timely next of kin notification is vital. Not only is it important to have a family member present to comfort the patient, but to make informed decisions for his care and provide the medical history that can make the difference between life and death. From a liability standpoint, as we know all too well, having a family member making medical decisions, often means that if complications do arise, the family will be much less likely to sue, than if they hadn't been in attendance. Although most hospitals make notification calls quickly, between personnel shortages and overworked staffers, that call can often be delayed or forgotten. That's exactly what happened to Elaine Sullivan, a very active seventy-one-year-old woman, who slipped and fell, while getting into the bathtub. When paramedics arrived, they realized that injuries to her mouth and head had made her unable to communicate, or as the hospital later discovered, to give informed consent for her own care. Although stable for the first few days, she began to slip into critical condition. On the seventh day, Elaine died. But that tragedy was soon overshadowed by another. Despite having her daughter's phone number and contact information clearly indicated on the front of her chart, the hospital failed to notify her family that she'd been hospitalized until six and a half days after her admission, only hours before she died, unnecessarily and alone. Elaine Sullivan was my grandmother. In her case, placing that phone call right away, would have saved her life. Not only would my mother Janet and I have had the time to fly back to Chicago to be at her bedside, but we would have made sure she received the care she needed. We also would have been able to give the physicians treating her, the medical history they needed to prevent the complications and drug interactions, responsible for her death. After researching our own case and others like it, we realized that failing to notify a patient's next of kin wasn't an isolated problem - it's something that's been experienced by countless families nationwide. According to the CDC, nearly one million patients come into the ED every year unconscious or physically unable to give informed consent. And with the growing number of emergency room admissions and baby boomers turning into senior citizens, the problem is only going to escalate. We began meeting with medical and trauma professionals, to create an easy-to-implement solution to this growing problem, by bringing together the best practices of successful trauma teams from hospitals nationwide. The result is the Seven Steps to Successful Notification System. The complete system is presented in The Seven Steps Information Kit, which is available for download, free of charge, on the NOKEP web site. It's filled with tools your staff can use on the patient care floor to identify and locate your unconscious patient's family or surrogate decision makers, identify John Does and improve patient care and satisfaction by locating patient's medical histories quickly and easily, while complying with HIPAA standards. Even better, following the Seven Steps system provides the facility with a documentation of the steps taken to find the patient's next of kin, make the notification, and the staff members responsible for making it. This releases you from subsequent liability, while providing proof that your facility has met its statutory responsibility. Here is a quick look at the Seven Steps. Step 1: Patient status confirmed The moment that your staff realizes that an ED patient is unconscious or physically unable to give informed consent, and that there is no family member or surrogate decision maker in attendance, a nurse or physician is tasked with following the notification process through to completion. The staff member indicates the patient's status on his chart along with the time, date and the staffer's initials. Step 2: Examine the patient's personal effects for emergency contact numbers If the patient doesn't have emergency contact information in his or her wallet, the staff member looks for it in the patient's personal effects. The System has a comprehensive checklist of places to locate this information, from the usual to the downright creative. Step 3: Retrieve patient's home number If the patient doesn't have emergency contact information, the staff member then looks for the patient's home number, going to step five if they find it and four if they do not. Step 4: Seek other sources for contact information Next, the staff member looks for the patient's emergency contact information or home phone number on records from previous admissions at the facility, or by calling his personal physician's office, or other locations on the checklist. If the staff member finds the information, he proceeds to step five - if not, step seven. Step 5: Oversee or make the notification call When a contact has been identified, the staffer places a call to make the notification. They note on the chart when the call was placed, whom they contacted, the phone number and the result. Step 6: Need to follow up? Recall main contact or second number If a message had to be left for the contact, or the contact doesn't come into the hospital within two hours, the staff member places one more call, to the first or a secondary contact. If no one is reached, the staff member proceeds to step seven. Step 7: Shift to social service or police When no contact name or number can be located, or if the staff member doing the notification, is unable to speak directly to the contact, they give the information to the social service department or to the local police department, as per your facilities' policy, for follow up. Along with the Information Kit, the non-profit Next of Kin Education Project has created patient chart pages and notification worksheets using the Seven Steps, that you can purchase and customize to use as part of your own charting system. You'll find them on the NOKEP web site along with reminder products like mouse pads, posters and coffee mugs, to keep the Seven Steps at your staff's fingertips. Just as doctors, nurses, and staffers from every department make up a team to improve the health of the patients in their care, family and friends can play an important part in contributing to the patient's well being. As a medical professional, you are a diagnostician, a caregiver and a healer. But most of all, you are the patient's advocate. And so is his family. This Kit contains tools that will help you and his family work together to increase his care, trust and take patient satisfaction to a whole new level. Laura Greenwald, CEO/The Next of Kin Education Project nokepinfokit@juno.com The Seven Steps Information Kit can be downloaded free of charge at http://clik.to/7steps and the Reminder Products can be purchased at our NOKEP store http://www.cafeshops.com/7steps
MORE RESOURCES:
Men's Health
|
Women's
Health |
Children's
Health |
Elder
Health
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Back Pain & Muscle Pain - Effective & Natural Pain Treatment Alternatives Pain and Stress. They seem almost to go hand in hand - not only in their negative connotation, but also in their biological causes and triggers. Vioxx Recall leads to Vioxx Lawsuits Vioxx is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammagory drug (NSAID) that reduces inflammation, pain, fever, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis stiffness, and menstrual pain. However, Vioxx has been shown to cause blood clots, heart attacks, stroke, Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, kidney damage and other dangerous and potentially deadly side effects. The Controversy of Viagra (Sildenafil Citrate), Other ED Medications, and Their Generic Counterpart There has definitely been a good deal of controversy over Viagra, it's use and more recently, it's side effects among some unfortunate patients however, apart from the specific drug itself and the effects, reasons and results of it's use, there has been another controversy of which only those involved would probably be aware. I am referring to the purchase and use of Generic Brands of Sildenafil Citrate. Stevens Johnson Syndrome Lawyer Says: Get Help SJS is an allergic reaction to certain medications that can result in death. It has been linked to pain killers, antibiotics, barbiturates, anti-convulsants, non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, arthritis medications, and sulfa antibiotics such as Bextra, Arava, Aventis, Remicade, Allopurinol, Phenytoin, Carbamazepine, Ibuprofen, Daypro, children's Motrin, Advil, Lamectal and Topamax. A Fresh Start Plan for People With Neck Pain! "If you have to deal with chronic neck pain, it can be a real struggle. I know? because I've had to do it myself," states Dr. Bextra and Vioxx Withdrawal Spurs Price Increase Among Rivals The market for painkillers is huge. People don't like pain and inflammation, and last year Americans spent nearly $4 billion on just two of them - Vioxx and Bextra. Polysomnography: One Tool in Helping in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Fibromyalgia Stop! and imagine for one moment that your body is being savagely and brutally attacked by chronic pain. This pain is so intense that you become less active. Online Pharmacy Watch: DEA Does Spring Cleaning Of Illegal Internet Pharmacies Since early 2004, it has become more apparent every day that the online pharmacy industry is being destroyed. Who is doing such damage to bring the industry crashing down, you ask? So far, the people responsible are savvy businessmen who are using their skills to create temporary safety nets for black-hat operations using loopholes in international security. Medical Billing PDA: 21st Century Convenience for Medical Practices Medical Billing PDAOne of the first things I notice about a medical office, whether it be with my dentist, my family doctor, or my optometrist, is the walls full of color-coded files containing medical histories, billing information, and tracking information for prescriptions check ups and various other things. As a patient, it is fun to trace the colored tags across the files and wonder what they mean. Understanding Tumescent Liposuction Tumescent liposuction is done using a local aesthetic. A large volume of saline solution containing the aesthetic and a drug called "Epinephrine" is injected directly into the areas where there are excessive fatty deposits. The Ease of Using a Motorized Wheelchair to Improve Mobility No person likes to feel housebound and dependent on others. While people who have been injured or suffering from a debilitating disease may not have full functionality of their motor skills, it is still possible for them to be semi-independent and mobile with motorized wheelchairs and other home medical equipment. Discipline Medicine Most writers suffer from a lack of discipline. The urge to procrastinate is strong as writing is agonizing work because it is done alone without support from colleagues, acquaintances, and friends unlike other occupations that take place in an office, a store, a factory, or some other location where people are present. 10 Steps To Detoxification Technology. We live in a grand time of technological development. A Very Medical Miracle Madeline Mann once weighed less can a can of soda making her the tiniest surviving newborn known to medicine. Next week, she enters high school as something even more exrtaordinary- a honor student who likes to play violin and Rollerblade. Electric Wheelchairs When you search online for Electric Wheelchairs, like any other things, you will face a situation, where you will need to choose a provider out of so many companies that offer the service. The search engines will bring you thousands and thousands of results when you type the phrase "Electric Wheelchairs. Taking The Sting Out Of Bug Bites (NC)-In most cases insect bites are harmless and if left alone, the irritation will subside within 48 hours.However, for some people, particularly children, scratching bites may lead to a highly contagious bacterial skin infection called impetigo. How Safe Do You Feel Going To Hospital To Be Cured There has been a lot of concern in Australia over the performance of an overseas trained Doctor that had been made Director of Surgery in a regional city.Currently there is a Commission of Inquiry into the allegations that have been made against this Doctor and in the interim report that has been released and passed to the State Government, there are serious concerns that this Doctor could face charges of Murder, because at the moment, there is evidence that at least 87 people have died as a result of surgery performed by this Doctor. Powerful Arthritis Pain Relief For All Of Us When you ask what arthritis is, professinals will tell you it's inflammation of one or more joints. But you know it better as pain, swelling, stiffness, deformity, and/or a diminished range of motion of those joints! It's estimated that over 50 million Americans suffer from osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and other related conditions. Online Pharmacies and the FDA The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is responsible for overseeing the testing, manufacturing, and distribution of prescription drugs in the United States.Drug companies in the United States operate in a free market and can charge whatever they want for their medications. Ativan Side Effects Lawyer The drug Lorazepan is marketed under the names Alzapam, Ativan, Loraz, Lorazepam, Intensol. Ativan is the safest form of this type of drug because it has less of an effect on the liver than other benzodiazepines, which means that a patient can take it in conjunction with other liver affecting medications like birth control pills, anti-abuse drugs, propranolol, and ulcer medications.
|
|
home | site map Men's Health | Women's Health | Children's Health | Elder Health Holistic Health | Healthy Heart | Cancer | Weight Loss Exercise & Fitness | Healthy Resources |
|
|
