August 2016

What You Don’t Know Won’t Kill You, But it Can Kill Your Patient: Negligence in Nursing Homes

“Neglect” is often an abuse term associated with children, and rightly so, but there is another group of individuals that can face negligence with equivalent severity: the elderly. Unable to physically or mentally care for themselves alone, 1.4 million Americans reside in nursing homes, where they trust they will be attended to.[1]  However, elder abuse […]

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A Series of Unfortunate Mistakes: Medical Errors and How to Reduce Them Part IV: Solutions

Alas, at the end of the tunnel, there is light! After exploring the potentially catastrophic effects of medical errors – due to simple mistakes or complicated, historically engrained hierarchy – the past three articles in this series are certainly grim. However, this final piece of the series will focus upon something more uplifting: solutions.  

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A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE MISTAKES: MEDICAL ERRORS AND HOW TO REDUCE THEM

Part III: The Importance of Good Communication within Departments Communication becomes exceedingly difficult when there are deeply imbedded hierarchical and school of thought barriers between parties, and nowhere is there a more relevant example of the negative effects of such a system than modern hospitals. As mentioned in the first two parts of this series,

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A Series of Unfortunate Mistakes: Medical Errors and How to Reduce Them Part III: The Importance of Good Communication within Departments

Communication becomes exceedingly difficult when there are deeply imbedded hierarchical and school of thought barriers between parties, and nowhere is there a more relevant example of the negative effects of such a system than modern hospitals. As mentioned in the first two parts of this series, medical errors can occur due to anything from misread

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A Series of Unfortunate Mistakes: Medical Errors and How to Reduce Them Part II: The Importance of Good Communication Between Departments

Communication: a skill that is innately human and yet so, so difficult to master. Effective communication requires recognition of context, frame of reference, assumptions, and differing perspectives to understand and deal with a situation. Especially in a medical setting, communication is vital. However, a recent report found that 30% of malpractice cases were the result

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