February 2010 Patient Safety in the Medical Literature

Today's Updates

The future of otolaryngology training threatened: The negative impact of residency training reforms    

Singer MC     Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2010 Mar;142(3):303-305..

Residency reforms of 2003 have not achieved their goals, but have diluted the residents' experiences. 

Perspectives of staff nurses of the reasons for and the nature of patient-initiated call lights     

 Tzeng     BMC Health Serv Res. 2010 Feb 26;10(1):52

"53% thought that answering calls prevented them from doing the critical aspects of their role. "

"Additional efforts are necessary to reach the ideal or even a reasonable level of patient safety-first practice in current hospital environments."

Hospitals' disregard of patient safety alerts is risking lives, claims charity.

O'Dowd A     BMJ     2010 Feb 17;340:c984. doi: 10.1136/bmj.c984.

Also see:

Daily Mail article

Broadening never events: is it a plausible road to improved patient safety?

MacLeod JB   Arch Surg 2010 Feb;145(2):151-2.

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