| |
| |
|
Medicine Information |
|
|
|
Increasing Patient Care and Reducing Liability in Seven Simple Steps
When an unconscious patient arrives in the ED, every hospital agrees that timely next of kin notification is vital. Not only is it important to have a family member present to comfort the patient, but to make informed decisions for his care and provide the medical history that can make the difference between life and death. From a liability standpoint, as we know all too well, having a family member making medical decisions, often means that if complications do arise, the family will be much less likely to sue, than if they hadn't been in attendance. Although most hospitals make notification calls quickly, between personnel shortages and overworked staffers, that call can often be delayed or forgotten. That's exactly what happened to Elaine Sullivan, a very active seventy-one-year-old woman, who slipped and fell, while getting into the bathtub. When paramedics arrived, they realized that injuries to her mouth and head had made her unable to communicate, or as the hospital later discovered, to give informed consent for her own care. Although stable for the first few days, she began to slip into critical condition. On the seventh day, Elaine died. But that tragedy was soon overshadowed by another. Despite having her daughter's phone number and contact information clearly indicated on the front of her chart, the hospital failed to notify her family that she'd been hospitalized until six and a half days after her admission, only hours before she died, unnecessarily and alone. Elaine Sullivan was my grandmother. In her case, placing that phone call right away, would have saved her life. Not only would my mother Janet and I have had the time to fly back to Chicago to be at her bedside, but we would have made sure she received the care she needed. We also would have been able to give the physicians treating her, the medical history they needed to prevent the complications and drug interactions, responsible for her death. After researching our own case and others like it, we realized that failing to notify a patient's next of kin wasn't an isolated problem - it's something that's been experienced by countless families nationwide. According to the CDC, nearly one million patients come into the ED every year unconscious or physically unable to give informed consent. And with the growing number of emergency room admissions and baby boomers turning into senior citizens, the problem is only going to escalate. We began meeting with medical and trauma professionals, to create an easy-to-implement solution to this growing problem, by bringing together the best practices of successful trauma teams from hospitals nationwide. The result is the Seven Steps to Successful Notification System. The complete system is presented in The Seven Steps Information Kit, which is available for download, free of charge, on the NOKEP web site. It's filled with tools your staff can use on the patient care floor to identify and locate your unconscious patient's family or surrogate decision makers, identify John Does and improve patient care and satisfaction by locating patient's medical histories quickly and easily, while complying with HIPAA standards. Even better, following the Seven Steps system provides the facility with a documentation of the steps taken to find the patient's next of kin, make the notification, and the staff members responsible for making it. This releases you from subsequent liability, while providing proof that your facility has met its statutory responsibility. Here is a quick look at the Seven Steps. Step 1: Patient status confirmed The moment that your staff realizes that an ED patient is unconscious or physically unable to give informed consent, and that there is no family member or surrogate decision maker in attendance, a nurse or physician is tasked with following the notification process through to completion. The staff member indicates the patient's status on his chart along with the time, date and the staffer's initials. Step 2: Examine the patient's personal effects for emergency contact numbers If the patient doesn't have emergency contact information in his or her wallet, the staff member looks for it in the patient's personal effects. The System has a comprehensive checklist of places to locate this information, from the usual to the downright creative. Step 3: Retrieve patient's home number If the patient doesn't have emergency contact information, the staff member then looks for the patient's home number, going to step five if they find it and four if they do not. Step 4: Seek other sources for contact information Next, the staff member looks for the patient's emergency contact information or home phone number on records from previous admissions at the facility, or by calling his personal physician's office, or other locations on the checklist. If the staff member finds the information, he proceeds to step five - if not, step seven. Step 5: Oversee or make the notification call When a contact has been identified, the staffer places a call to make the notification. They note on the chart when the call was placed, whom they contacted, the phone number and the result. Step 6: Need to follow up? Recall main contact or second number If a message had to be left for the contact, or the contact doesn't come into the hospital within two hours, the staff member places one more call, to the first or a secondary contact. If no one is reached, the staff member proceeds to step seven. Step 7: Shift to social service or police When no contact name or number can be located, or if the staff member doing the notification, is unable to speak directly to the contact, they give the information to the social service department or to the local police department, as per your facilities' policy, for follow up. Along with the Information Kit, the non-profit Next of Kin Education Project has created patient chart pages and notification worksheets using the Seven Steps, that you can purchase and customize to use as part of your own charting system. You'll find them on the NOKEP web site along with reminder products like mouse pads, posters and coffee mugs, to keep the Seven Steps at your staff's fingertips. Just as doctors, nurses, and staffers from every department make up a team to improve the health of the patients in their care, family and friends can play an important part in contributing to the patient's well being. As a medical professional, you are a diagnostician, a caregiver and a healer. But most of all, you are the patient's advocate. And so is his family. This Kit contains tools that will help you and his family work together to increase his care, trust and take patient satisfaction to a whole new level. Laura Greenwald, CEO/The Next of Kin Education Project nokepinfokit@juno.com The Seven Steps Information Kit can be downloaded free of charge at http://clik.to/7steps and the Reminder Products can be purchased at our NOKEP store http://www.cafeshops.com/7steps
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Cholesterol Prescription Medications Can Kill You While there are numerous options for people to lower cholesterol naturally, thousands and thousands of people are taking prescription medication to lower cholesterol - risking some very dangerous side effects.These side effects can include:? An increase in cancer risk ? Elevated liver enzymes (causing liver damage) ? Yellow skin / yellow eyes ? Rhabdomyolysis (degenerative muscle tissue condition) ? Impaired kidney function ? Muscle weakness and pain ? Dizziness ? Gas ? Headache ? Heartburn or indigestion ? Nausea or vomitingCrestor, a prescription medication to lower cholesterol, has been linked to the death of a patient who developed a suspected case of severe muscle wasting. UltraCET: The Dynamic Duo Of Prescription Pain Control Medications Remember the last time you stubbed your toe? OUCH! It's painful. But a stubbed toe usually doesn't send us running to the medicine cabinet, since we know that the pain will pass within a few minutes. Mexico: Drugs Galore! You are going to find this incredible and I assure you I am not making any of this up: You can waltz into any pharmacy (Farmacia) in Mexico and buy almost anything without a prescription. Except for controlled substances, you can get most anything you want or need simply by asking. Find a Doctor How to find a doctor? There's no magical route to finding the right doctor. If you have a primary care physician just call him or her and make an appointment. Generic Drugs: How They Cost You Less? If you are wondering why the chemist has charged much less than what you expected then it is not because he has developed sudden liking for you or the government decided to subsidized your medical bill.It is possible because you are getting cheaper generic alternative of some expensive brand name medication. Treating Lazy Eye in Older Children Many eye doctors believed until recently that if a child's vision was impaired because of a "lazy eye," the condition could not be corrected past the age of six or seven years. However, a study funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, has found that amblyopia or "lazy eye" treatment can be effective in children age seven through 17. Orphan Drugs: Hope Where There Is Little or No Hope NEW YORK, N.Y. Interactive Technology in Healthcare Education Healthcare professionals are under pressure to remember, utilize and absorb vast amounts of new or changing information in increasing volume. This surge has led to new and improved computer-based tools for many healthcare activities and to an explosion in the marketplace of tools used in instruction and education of healthcare workers. Zicam Side Effects: Shortens Colds But Permanently Destroys Sense of Smell Zicam is a homeopathic intranasal zinc remedy that is intended to reduce the length of a cold. It is either taken in a spray or a swab. 7 Tips to Keep Your Fluid Down on Dialysis As any dialysis patient will tell you, keeping your fluid gain between dialysis sessions in check is not only important to your long term health, it is a major factor in your immediate well-being.Keeping fluid level gains as low as possible between dialysis treatments will minimize the risk of congestive heart failure, pulmonary oedema, and hypertension. Physicians, Chiropractors and Physical Therapist Agree on a New Treatment for Low Back Pain One of the most prevalent and difficult health conditions to treat in the physical medicine is low back pain. The difficulty in treating low back pain comes from the fact that there are numerous causes including herniated discs, bulging discs, degenerative discs, muscle spasms, facet arthritis, and sciatica. Affordable Drugs: Saving Money by Splitting Pills One of the least appreciated cost-savers in medical treatment is the simple act of splitting pills. Suppose you're a U. Give Me Accutane or Give Me Death: The Politics of Prescriptions Any teenager will tell you that acne can drive you crazy, but is it dismal enough to drive you to kill yourself? Since its market debut in 1982, enraged parents and lawyers have implicated Accutane in the hospitalizations and suicide deaths of over 200 teenagers in the US.Accutane (isotretinoin) is one of Hoffman-LaRoche's most popular and controversial pharmaceuticals. Buy with confidence at Online Mexican Pharmacy The foremost benefit of buying prescription medicines and other medical supplies from a Mexican pharmacy is the secure buying procedure and easy on the pocket rates. The health and medical care laws in Mexico are not that strict infact completely different and relaxed as compared to the US laws. Joint Pain Relief If you joints are constantly killing you, here are three suggestions:1. Traumeel is a product that has been used for years in Germany to relieve pain. Chronic Headaches and Pain Often Can Be Eliminated By A Special Dentist DENVER - Sometimes as Freud once said a good cigar is just a smoke. A headache, on the other hand, occasionally can be a sign of something much more serious than just a headache. Lunesta Pregnancy And Breastfeeding Lunesta is a newly released sleeping pill. Marketed as a revolutionary sleep aid, Lunesta is the only medication approved by the FDA for long term treatment of insomnia symptoms. I Hurt All Over... How to Ease Away the Pain of Fibromyalgia! At one moment, a life of activity consumed with enjoyable activities like biking, golfing, going to the movies, out to dinner. Then one day, it's gone. Prevent Foot Problems When Walking Americans are on the go. According to a NSGA Survey, 71 million American adults are exercise walkers, making walking the top sport in the United States. 4 Reasons to Feel Safe Submitting an Electronic Medical Claim Electronic Medical ClaimFor years, both practices and patients have had to deal with submitting medical claims. Up until recently, claims were submitted manually, using HCFA 1500 forms.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
