Rather than reverse the problems they purport to fix, these unwarranted procedures can often lead to greater health problems and even death. A 1995 report by Milliman & Robertson, Inc. concluded that nearly 60 percent of all surgeries performed are medically unnecessary, according to Under The Influence of Modern Medicine by Terry A. Rondberg. Some of the most major and frequently performed unnecessary surgeries include hysterectomies, Cesarean sections and coronary artery bypass surgeries. Coronary bypasses are the most common unnecessary surgeries in America In a nation plagued by heart disease, it often seems that the knee-jerk reaction of American doctors is to treat heart problems with surgery. However, many of the heart surgeries performed each year are unnecessary procedures that could be putting the patients' lives at greater risk.
Smart Pumps: The smart choice for medicine Medication errors are extremely dangerous and potentially deadly to patients. According to a recent release of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report, preventing medication errors, they found that medication mistakes injure more than 1.5 million patients each year. Also, that hospitalized patients are at risk for at least one medication error per patient day (IOM, 2006). Traditional infusion devices make it easy for clinicians to commit these errors. There are no safeguards in place and the infusion devices are often shared between many patients with extremely different infusion needs throughout the day.
Hand decontamination is the most effective and definitely the most cost-effective, method of avoiding infections related to poor hand hygiene. The aim of hand decontamination is to significantly reduce the carriage of potential pathogens on the hands that can potentially be dangerous to patients and healthcare workers. Decontamination refers to the process of removal of blood, bodily fluids and destruction (elimination) of micro-organism from the hands. Current national and international guidelines suggest that hand decontamination should be performed before and after patient contact. Deciding when to decontaminate your hand can be a little bit daunting.
However, because thousands of new drugs have been developed recently, because the health care environment is increasingly complex, and because the patients are older and often sicker, there is increasing risk for medication errors in hospitals. They occur most frequently at the prescribing and administration stages. Medication errors occur in all health care systems; and often result in serious patient harm or deaths are the focus because this is an issue for most hospitals. Serious errors harm patients and expose health professionals to civil liability and sometimes-criminal prosecution (NHS Jan 2004, p.9). The statistics of medication error consistently increases in health care sector.
Compared to the rest of Britain, it is shocking. Around 350 intravenous drug addict take fatal overdoses in the whole of England and wales each year. If London’s death rate was the same as Glasgow’s, more than 1,000 youngsters would die each year – three every day. [1] Also, the weather has an
“Acetaminophen… is contained in almost 100 different products and combination products,” writes Carol and Richard Eustice. Because there are so many drugs containing Acetaminophen, people don’t always realize when they are ingesting it. Also, most patients aren’t aware that Acetaminophen is contained in over the counter and prescription drugs. Accidentally ingesting more than the recommended dosage can lead to overdoses and serious health problems. Another risk many people aren’t aware of is the risk of ingesting alcohol regularly (three or more times a day) and Acetaminophen together.
Two Risk Factors for GI Disease in Older Adults Your name QCC Nursing 102 Helicobacter pylori and the excessive use of NSAIDs increase the risk for GI diseases in older adults. H. pylori is a bacteria that according to the CDC more than 50% of the worlds population is infected with. (Snyder, D., 2005). Yet, if you ask the common layperson about it, they do not have a clue what it is or its consequences. On the other hand, if you mention NSAIDs like Motrin and Aleve you get a different response.
Diseases that are easily treatable here in the United States are basically death sentences to the poor people of Afghanistan. About 48,545 children die each year in Afghanistan due to diarrheal diseases alone (TOLOnews). That is about eighty percent of the children who die from unsafe water. These kids died from ingesting water, which is a very troubling sentence to type. The families are left with choice of using this dirty water or not use any water at all.
This can alleviate their stress about tests that might involve threatening diseases. Having all medications labeled in containers will reduce medication errors for patients. This will help health care providers to see what is in each container, syringe and vial at all times. This goal is a crucial one in keeping medication errors to a minimum (The Joint commission, 2011). A vital area need for infection control is ensuring hand hygiene guidelines are strictly followed.
Medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. Such events may be related to professional practice, health care products, procedures, and systems. Medication error is an important issue for professional nursing practice in today’s health care world. Approximately 1.3 million people are injured annually in the United States due to medication errors. It has also been reported that thousands of other patients are adversely affected by medication errors or barely avoid injuries that are nonfatal.