World hospitals and health services : the official journal of the International Hospital Federation
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World Hosp Health Serv · Jan 2006
Physician accountability, patient safety and patient compensation.
In Canada, the response to adverse medical events follows one or more of three main paths: patient safety, physician accountability and patient compensation. While their goals differ, each of these responses serves a valuable function. There are however competing imperatives inherent in each response, particularly in terms of information disclosure: Effective patient safety depends on the full and protected disclosure of all information relevant to an adverse event and requires a "no blame" environment. ⋯ Patient compensation meets both accountability demands and the social justice imperatives of supporting a patient injured through physician negligence. The most effective approach is one that achieves balance between competing imperatives. With clear information disclosure rules, patient safety, physician accountability and patient compensation can operate synergistically.
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This article looks at how health care IT can save hospitals and health services valuable funding and how these saving compare to the costs involved. The chief barriers to success and possible solutions to these difficulties are outlined. The author also points to the need for government intervention in implementing health care IT on a board scale.
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World Hosp Health Serv · Jan 2005
Hospital disaster medical response: aligning everyday requirements with emergency casualty care.
In this essay, we would like to pragmatically and realistically introduce three topics: (a) Within the hospital, critical care is acknowledged as an enormous cost driver that becomes even less manageable during a disaster response scenario. It is widely recognised that hospital critical care capabilities for large scale disaster response require significant increases, but an overarching plan to accomplish this goal is lacking. ⋯ Lesser degrees of illness and injury will likely be cared for in other venues. What is required to provide 'large scale' critical care? (b) During a true large scale disaster with a large casualty stream, the mandate is not to provide 'standard of care,' but rather 'sufficiency of care.' What is that, what does that mean to critical care and the hospital, and how is that determined? (c) Are there other mandated in-hospital requirements that can be appropriately and successfully leveraged for disaster medical response?
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World Hosp Health Serv · Jan 2005
Availability, safety and quality of blood for transfusion in the Americas.
This article has two objectives: (1) to present for countries and territories of the Region of the Americas data on the number of blood donations, proportion of voluntary blood donors versus remunerated blood donors, coverage of screening for infectious agents, and separation of donated blood into its components and (2) to explore the relationships of those characteristics with economic and organisational factors in the countries and territories. ⋯ The availability, safety and quality of blood for transfusion in the Americas needs to be improved. As part of that effort, national policies and strategies must be put into place so that the resources already allocated for blood services are better utilised.