Categories
Cardiovascular
Diagnostics
Endocrinology
Health Insurance
Medical Devices
Mental Health
Nutrition
Oncology
Public Health
Sexual Health
Popular Articles
Natural Remedies

Patients And Health Care Providers Seek Improved Quality As Report Shows Extensive Errors
The Washington Post reports on efforts by hospitals to tally their avoidable mistakes and describes "hundreds of incidents of death or serious medical harm disclosed in the past year by hospitals in the Washington region, preventable errors that until recently have not required public reporting. Under laws that took effect last year in Virginia and a few years earlier in the District and Maryland, hospitals must report to health regulators many serious injuries that patients suffer in the course of treatment. The laws are different in each jurisdiction. For example, Virginia"s public records identify the hospitals by name, while Maryland"s and the District"s do not. But they all allow the public to glimpse the breadth of mistakes that health experts dub "never events" (because they should never happen): sponges left inside patients after surgery, operations on the wrong limb, medication errors, falls that lead to needless deaths (as well as other events). At least 20 states require hospitals to report every incidence of hospital-acquired infection. Patients, insurers and regulators are beginning to use this information to prod health-care providers to ensure that such events really never happen."
generic viagra online
Nursing & Midwifery Council Announces New Chief Executive And Registrar, UK
The Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) announced the appointment of Professor Dickon Weir-Hughes as its new Chief Executive and Registrar.
News of the day
Israeli Scientists Show Bacteria Can Plan Ahead
Bacteria can anticipate a future event and prepare for it, according to new research at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In a paper that appeared today in Nature, Prof. Yitzhak Pilpel, doctoral student Amir Mitchell and research associate Dr. Orna Dahan of the Institute"s Molecular Genetics Department, together with Prof. Martin Kupiec and Gal Romano of Tel Aviv University, examined microorganisms living in environments that change in predictable ways. Their findings show that these microorganisms" genetic networks are hard-wired to "foresee" what comes next in the sequence of events and begin responding to the new state of affairs before its onset.
Public Health

British Medical Association Launches "Look After Our NHS"

The BMA is stepping up its activity to publicise its concerns about government reforms that have created a market in healthcare and allowed commercially run firms to provide NHS care. "Look After Our NHS" is being launched to gather examples of the impact and cost of market-driven reforms, show where public money is being wasted, and the adverse effects this has had on patient care and doctors" working lives. The BMA has long argued that government policy to reform the NHS in England by introducing a market-based system of healthcare will have a negative impact on local health economies and services for patients. Using private money to fund new hospital buildings has resulted in crippling debts for NHS Trusts. Introducing competition between NHS providers, including hospitals and GP surgeries, and arranging costly deals with private companies to run independent sector treatment centres, is having an adverse effect on many existing services. Dr Hamish Meldrum, the BMA"s Chairman of Council said: "A market economy is based on winners and losers. We"re not prepared to allow parts of the NHS to fail. "We want to get rid of the market in healthcare and allow our hospitals and GP surgeries to work together, not be forced to compete against each other for business. Worse still it leads to unnecessary duplication, encourages gaming and there is no good evidence that it drives up quality." The BMA is calling on doctors to sign up to a set of key principles that argue for an NHS which is publicly funded, publicly provided, and publicly accountable. It should use public money for quality healthcare, not profits for shareholders, and put the care of patients before financial targets. Doctors" training also needs protection since there is little incentive for commercial providers to deliver training to junior doctors. A series of activities is being planned to encourage doctors to speak out about local concerns and to give their views on how the market is affecting patient care in their area. A branded, interactive website, newsletter, campaign pack and publicity at BMA conferences are just some of the activities that will commence in June 2009. British Medical Association


Add your comment:
Name:
Site address: http://
Your message:
Enter today\\\\'s date, 2 digits
(spam protection):

© Copyright 2009