Journal for healthcare quality : official publication of the National Association for Healthcare Quality
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Catastrophic medical malpractice payouts, $1 million or greater, greatly influence physicians' practice, hospital policy, and discussions of healthcare reform. However, little is known about the specific characteristics and overall cost burden of these payouts. We reviewed all paid malpractice claims nationwide using the National Practitioner Data Bank over a 7-year period (2004-2010) and used multivariate regression to identify risk factors for catastrophic and increased overall payouts. ⋯ Catastrophic payouts averaged $1.4 billion per year or 0.05% of the National Health Expenditures. Preventing catastrophic malpractice payouts should be only one aspect of comprehensive patient safety and quality improvement strategies. Future studies should evaluate the benefits of targeted interventions based on specific patient safety event characteristics.
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The course of sepsis is rapid. Patient outcomes improve when sepsis is diagnosed and treated quickly. The clinical goals of the evidence-based bundled strategies from the International consortium Surviving Sepsis Campaign (SSC) include optimizing timeliness in the delivery of care and creating a continuum for sepsis management that runs from the emergency department (ED) to the acute and critical care settings. ⋯ There was a statistically significant improvement between the phases for lactate completion X(2) = 16.908 (p < .01) after education. Frequency of blood cultures being obtained before antibiotic administration was nearing statistical significance (p < .054). There was an improvement in time to antibiotic administration between phase 2 (182.09 mean average minutes, SD = 234.06) and phase 3 (91.62 mean average minutes, SD = 167.99).
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Early identification of septic patients is important to prevent delays in appropriate management. To improve detection of septic patients presenting to the emergency department (ED), we implemented a triage screening tool. Our study sought to determine the effect of this tool on time to antibiotics in patients with suspected severe sepsis or septic shock presenting to the ED. ⋯ The mean time (in minutes) to antibiotics (±SD) in the pre- and postcohorts was 283 (±213) and 207 (±150), respectively. The multivariable analysis showed that the mean time to antibiotics decreased by 21% (95% CI 6-36%, p < .0074) comparing pre- versus posttriage tool implementation. The use of a sepsis triage screening tool significantly decreased the time to antibiotics in patients presenting to the ED with suspected severe sepsis or septic shock.
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The objective was to evaluate the analysis of adverse events and the decisions for quality improvement decided during morbidity and mortality conferences (MMCs). We conducted a prospective observational study of MMCs conducted in a teaching hospital between November 2007 and May 2008. Two observers attended the conferences and collected data on the structure of MMCs, the discussion between attendees, and the decisions or actions for quality improvement. ⋯ An analysis of underlying factors contributing to these shortcomings was observed in 75% of cases, with 4% considered structured and thorough. Eighty-five decisions or actions to improve quality of care or patient safety were listed, with 28 of them (33%) planned for implementation. Discussion of adverse events appears to lack a structured method and although a large number of decisions for quality improvement were declared, fewer actions were planned with a timeline.
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To assess obstetrician-gynecologists' (ob-gyns') use of multiple conflicting guidelines assess after the release of the 2009 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) breast cancer screening recommendations. ⋯ Some ob-gyns made changes to their practices after the release of the USPSTF guidelines. When multiple guidelines exist, as in the case with breast cancer screening, physicians utilize multiple, and at times conflicting, guidelines. More research will be needed to better understand the impact (negative or positive) of multiple guidelines on the quality of healthcare.