I flew back safely from Finland on Saturday – or I should say British Airways and American Airlines flew me safety, including in the 747 pictured at left. 15 hours across three flights. It was a long day. But, I…
Here’s a video interview with Dr. Peter Pronovost, author of the book Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals: How One Doctor’s Checklist Can Help Us Change Health Care from the Inside Out, via AARP. It’s a brief synopsis of the patient safety…
I’ve always been intrigued by entrepreneur (and billionaire) Elon Musk. He founded PayPal (which I have used for over ten years), founded SpaceX (which I would love to use, but can’t afford), and is the CEO of Tesla (not really…
Preventable medical mistakes remain one of the most serious challenges in healthcare, yet many hospitals still struggle with learning from medical errors and preventing them from happening again. From emergency departments to pathology labs, the same types of errors continue…
After a week of serious topics and sometimes pointed discussion, let’s end with a funny sign… well wait, there’s a serious story behind this sign too. This is a sign from a New Zealand hospital, sent via email by a…
Thanks to those of you who sent me the link to this Washington Post article called “The Pain of Wrong Site Surgery.” The piece highlights how the patient safety battle has not yet been won and “some researchers and patient…
Most (all?) of us here did NOT graduate from Harvard Medical School last week. But, we all can read the commencement address that was given by Dr. Atul Gawande, surgeon and author of great books such as Better: A Surgeon’s…
It’s my second post about the TV show Grey’s Anatomy, the first being “McDreamy” Fights the Blame Game on “Grey’s Anatomy.” Each post makes it less believable that I don’t watch the show religiously. Thanks go to my wife for…
Here’s a great story from my home state where I grew up, Michigan: “Hospital checklist helps pneumonia rates tumble by 70%.” From the article: Ventilator-associated pneumonia rates plummeted 70% at Michigan hospitals when physicians and other medical staff members improved…
You might have read my blog post from last week about an unsafe taxi driver and medical errors – Said the Unsafe Taxi Driver, “Well, Did I Hit Anybody?” In a colossal coincidence, the New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd…
Today, I’m sharing a brilliant Slate.com interview: “Risky Business: James Bagian “NASA astronaut turned patient safety expert” on Being Wrong.” He’s actually also an engineer and an anesthesiologist. An impressive background and impressive thinking. I will share a few highlights…
So Monday’s blog post was about preventable medical errors – namely errors involving pharmacies giving the wrong meds or wrong doses to patients. That’s not rocket science – it’s a clearly preventable error. But it’s also something to not blame…
