July 27th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
Tags: Braces, Child Injuries, Child Safety, Contact Lenses, ED, Emergency Department, Emergency Medicine, Emergency Room, ER Visits, Family Medicine, FDA, Food and Drug Administration, Injured Kids, Medical Device Injuries, Medical Device Safety, Needles, Obstetric Exam Tools, Pediatrics, Wheelchairs
No Comments »

FDA researchers have published a study in Pediatrics that analyzed patient records from child and teen ER visits in 2004 and 2005. The investigators are reporting that 70,000 kids each year go to the ER because of issues caused by medical devices.
About a quarter of the injuries were from contact lenses, while the other major contributors were needles, wheelchairs, braces, and obstetric exam tools. The study also looked at the devices most likely to cause hospitalization, and they were found to be mostly invasive devices like ostomy appliances and implanted defibrillators. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
July 27th, 2010 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: Anonymity, Formalized System of Reporting, General Medicine, Impaired Colleagues, Incident Report, Incompetent Doctors, JAMA, Journal of the American Medical Association, Not Fit To Practice Medicine, Patient Safety, Physician Incompetencies, Self-Police, Whistleblowing Doctors
No Comments »

Recently, JAMA published a study concluding that doctors are hesitant to report incompetent physicians or those who were impaired. According to the article:
“…more than a third of docs don’t think they’re responsible for reporting those who aren’t fit to practice, according to the results just published in JAMA. And only 69 percent of the docs who knew about an impaired or incompetent colleague reported them.
To those who advocate that the medical profession self-police, the numbers aren’t encouraging. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*
July 26th, 2010 by David Kroll, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
Tags: ACS, American Cancer Society, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Applied Statistics, Biostatistics, Chemotherapy, Dr. Anil Potti, Duke University, Eric Ferreri, Forensic Bioinformatics, Genetics, Grant Applicants, Grant Funding, Joe Nevins, Keith Baggerly, Kevin Coombes, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Microarray Analysis, Microarray-Based Individualized Chemotherapy, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Nature Medicine, NCI, News & Observer, NIH, Paul Goldberg, Personalized Genomics, Research Errors, Research Grant, Rhodes Scholar, The Cancer Letter, Tumors
No Comments »

This is not good. Not good at all.
Recently Paul Goldberg of The Cancer Letter reported on an investigation into Duke cancer researcher Anil Potti, M.D., and claims made that he was a Rhodes Scholar in Australia. The misrepresentation was made on grant applications to National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Cancer Society (ACS).
The Cancer Letter, a $375 per year go-to newsletter on cancer research, funding, and drug development, has made this issue free at this PDF link.
News & Observer higher education reporter Eric Ferreri has a nice overview of the situation. Potti has been placed on administrative leave by Duke, and the ACS has suspended payments on his grant and initiated their own investigation. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Terra Sigillata*
July 26th, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
Tags: Andy Hull, Connecticut, Danbury Hospital, Employee Health, Employee Protection, Hospital Administration, Hospital Errors, Hospital Fines, Hospital Policy, Hospital Safety, Hospital Staff, Hospital Violations, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, Stanley Lupienski, Workplace Safety, Workplace Violence
No Comments »

From Campus Safety Magazine:
DANBURY, Conn. — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Danbury Hospital for failing to provide its employees with sufficient protection against workplace violence. The hospital has been fined $6,300.
The announcement comes on the heels of the March 2010 attack, when nurse Andy Hull was shot three times by 86-year-old Stanley Lupienski, a patient at the hospital.
Yes, $6,300 isn’t much money, I agree. But I’d imagine it’s not good for admin careers…
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
July 26th, 2010 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Quackery Exposed
Tags: Caring For Patients Independently, Clinical Experience, Creighton University, DNP, Doctor Nurse Practitioner, Dumbing Down, Educational Standards, Family Practice, General Medicine, Healthcare Education, Internal Medicine, Medical Entrance Exam, Medical School, Medical Thesis, Medical Training, Nebraska, No Physician Oversight, Nursing Academics, Nursing Education Requirements, Nursing Profession, Omaha, Post-Graduate, Primary Care, The Future of American Healthcare
4 Comments »

I’m embarrassed to say this, but the nursing profession is making a mockery of healthcare education by downgrading the post-graduate degree process. The nursing education requirements in the advertisement seen here are an embarrassment to the nursing profession.
Mrs. Happy pointed out an advertisement from her nursing magazine offering advanced nursing education opportunities. This advertisement for the doctor nurse practitioner (DNP) training track at Creighton University is a mockery of the rigorous educational requirements necessary to care for patients independently. Check out the nursing education requirements on their advertisement: No entrance exam required? No clinical experience? No thesis required? What has this world come to?
These are professionals who are going to be taking care of patients in less than two years. Some states allow NPs to manage patients independently with no physician oversight. That is just plain scary. This is an embarrassment to the foundation of anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, neuroanatomy, microbiology, pharmacology, genetics — and on and on — required to care for patients independently. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Happy Hospitalist*