Erro

Psychological consequence of terrorist attacks

The Terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon could affect the mental health of Americans over coming weeks and months. As the dust settles over New York and Washington, psychiatrists warn that people will start to feel the full psychological impact of the disaster. Keeping busy and trying to get the cities back to normal keeps anxiety and grief at bay. And the sheer sca...

Errors in medication

According to a new study it was observed that nearly one out of every five medication doses delivered in hospitals and nursing homes may be in error. The problem occurs regardless of whether the facility has been accredited// by the nation's leading health care accrediting organization or not. The Institute of Medicine released a report titled, "To Err is Human: Building a Safer Heath...

Glaucoma & Ocular Hypertension more likely in patients with refractive errors

A study which appeared in the clinical journal of Ophthalmology concludes that farsightedness appears to be associated with a five-year risk of ocular hypertension, and nearsightedness is associated with a significantly increased prevalence// of glaucoma, in Caucasians. The study was conducted with nearly 5000 participants, aged between 43 to 84, who received baseline assessments of refra...

More information sought by patients on medical errors

Medical mistakes is one of the ills plaguing the field of medicine and patients are now demanding that they be given full information when a medical error happens. However, doctors are often reluctant to give full disclosure, not because they do not care. In fact, doctors confessed to being haunted for many years by their mistakes. In the Washington University School of Medicine, research...

Curbing medication errors with new rules

The FDA has proposed two new rules that would help improve patient safety by reducing medication errors. Medication errors alone are believed to be responsible for as many as 7,000 deaths. These errors have been attributed to problems of medications with similar names, poor handwriting by doctors on prescriptions, or too many new drugs for doctors to remember as they go from patient to pa...

Pharmacist’s Role in Medication Error

Researchers report positive findings in a new study that looked at the role of the pharmacist in helping doctors prevent medical errors involving medications. The investigation done finds having a pharmacist participate in medical rounds with doctors resulted in the identification and prevention of nearly 5,000 medication errors over more than four years.// The study w...

Reducing Medication Errors

Around the world, deaths from medical errors are common, people who are hospitalized face the largest risk for medical mistakes.// Studies show in adults, adverse drug events occur in five of every 100 medication orders. A new study led by researchers at Ottawa, shows computerized systems for ordering medications can reduce the number of errors. This is in place of hand-writing the order...

Common Medication Errors in Children

In a recent study researchers have found , medication errors that occur in pediatric intensive care units are more common // than previously thought. Researchers studied more than 11,800 children who were admitted into pediatric intensive care units to determine the prevalence of medication errors. They defined an error as any preventable event that may cause or lead to patient harm. R...

More Errors From Computerized Prescriptions

It was thought that computerized prescription could be used to avoid medical mistakes, but now it seems computerized prescription systems // may lead to even more errors. It is known that adverse drug events injure or kill more than 770,000 people in hospitals each year. One way hospitals are trying to cut back on that number is with computerized physician-order entry systems. But accord...

Health care errors blamed for deaths

Improper cleanliness and hygiene maintained by the health workers may cause as much as one-eighth// of the deaths that happen, says a new study. Researchers from University of Illinois had reported that more than the fear of lawsuits, it is the negligence of the health workers that cause the erratic nature of health care being meted out to the general public who approach the health car...

Patients In Hospital ICUs At Risk From Medical Errors

Research points out that patients in the ICU of the hospitals may face an increased risk of medical errors and adverse events. The study is published in the August issue // of Critical Care Medicine. Researchers found that over 20 percent of the patients admitted to two intensive care units at an academic hospital, a medical intensive care unit (MICU) and a coronary critical care unit...

Doctors May Not Be Ready To Tackle Bio-terrorism

A research report published in the latest issue of Archives of Internal Medicine said that doctors might not be ready to deal with the threat of bio-terrorism that may be caused by smallpox, anthrax, botulism and plague//. More than one-half of 631 physicians tested were unable to correctly diagnose diseases caused by agents most likely to be used by bio-terrorists. However, test score...

45 Percent Of Errors In Cancer Diagnosis Harm The Patient

The frequency of errors in the diagnosis has crept up lately and this is causing harm to the patients either in the form of unnecessary treatment or repeat diagnostic tests, says a new study that was published online today by the journal Cancer//. Stephen S. Raab, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh and colleagues studied 24,000 cases in four unnamed institutions in the Pittsburgh a...

Hospital Noise Raises The Risk Of Medical Error: Study

High decibel levels in hospitals disturbs both patients and doctors, and increases medical error risks, according to a study.// Noise made by speakers, electronic devices, heating and cooling systems and by loud voices of employees and visitors can result in lapses in short-term memory, according to the study by Johns Hopkins University researchers, reports News Wise wire....

US is unprepared for a bio-terrorist attack

The US based Trust for America's Health (TFAH) has revealed that the country has progressed very little where national security is concerned, even after the 11 September 2001 attacks//. The disaster response systems are still in a poor condition in many of the states. Over 50% of the states in the US measured up to five or less of the 10 indicators of the report, and only Virginia, South...

Ricin Vaccine protection against bio-warfare and bioterrorism

Professor Ellen S. Vitetta, University of Texas is in the process of developing an effective vaccine against Ricin. Ricin is a very potent lethal toxin obtained from castor // beans and is considered as the most deadly toxin at very minute concentration. The researcher as published her results from a trial on effective protection obtained from her ricin vaccine in the Proceedings of the N...

Human Error: Teenager’s Renewed Zest for Life Nose-Dive

The recent update of human error can make even a stone cry. Lis Noris, a bubbly 15 year old teenager from Ayrshire, was given radiation therapy, for brain tumor at Beatson Oncology Centre, Glasgow. //After a brief reprieve, she was awakened to a rude shock of being the unfortunate recipient of an overdose, 17 times of therapy, considered potentially fatal. Doctors have admitted to human...

Saving Infants From The Clutches Of Terror

The fact that terrorism is here to stay has made it necessary for health teams to be prepared for any eventuality. In such a scenario Rush University Medical Center has pioneered the use of a baby simulator in order //to train health care workers to respond quickly to infants in distress from any chemical weapons attacks initiated by terrorists. The Chicago Department of Public Health a...

Inhuman Error: Medicine Becomes Poison, Causing Death

Blame it on human error, fate, bad luck or just apathy- What do you say , to yet another shocking case of human error, where a woman dies after being given a medicine that was not meant for her.// Barbara Maguire, 51, was admitted to Glasgow's Stobhill Hospital in the emergency ward, after a stomach complaint in 2004. NHS, has confirmed that Miss Maguire, by a quirk of fate...

Medication Errors Affect Leukemia Treatment In Children

Research published in the September 15, 2006 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, says that around one in five children// does not receive the correct chemotherapy treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). And the main reason for this is medication errors. The study says that more than 10 percent of chemotherapeutic medications were given incorr...

Video Games Reduces Surgical Errors – A Stud

A new study suggests that people preparing for surgery needs to play surgical errors. Dr. James ‘Butch Rosser said, surgeons who warmed up by playing video games// like ‘Super Monkey Ball’ for 20 minutes immediately prior to performing surgical drills were faster and made fewer errors than those who did not. The research involved 303 surgeons participating in a medical training course t...

India & Singapore Join hands to Fight Terror & Drug Trafficking

India and Singapore have agreed to cooperate in sharing key intelligence inputs to deal with terrorism, //money laundering, organized crime and drugs trafficking and assist each other in disaster management. "The two sides decided to cooperate and exchange intelligence and information in these key security-related areas and also extend assistance to each other in the field of disaster...

Consumer Court Dismisses India’s Biggest Ever Medical Error Clai

The apex consumer court in New Delhi Thursday dismissed the case of highest-ever medical compensation claim filed by India-born US scientist Kunal Saha for the death of his wife in 1998 due to alleged wrongful treatment//. The judgement of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has 'shocked' the AIDS researcher. 'This judgement is utterly shocking not...

Police Team Permitted to Interrogate Rahul Mahajan

Hospital authorities treating Rahul Mahajan, the son of late Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, for a suspected case of drug overdose Monday gave the go-ahead to Delhi Police to interrogate him//. 'We have declared Rahul as fit for interrogation and he will soon be out of the intensive care unit,' said a senior doctor of the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. 'A...

Watch Out For the Erroneous Readings in the Glucose Meters

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warned that some of the glucose meters are giving faulty readings. The diabetic patients are cautioned about this erroneous equipment //. The meters are found to giving readings which were far too high. Diabetes type 1 patients take insulin if their blood glucose rates are high. This would sometimes lead to patients self admi...

Medical Role In Interrogations Curtailed By Pentagon

On tuesday the Pentagon placed new restrictions on a doctors’ role in interrogating detainees, but critics were against any policy //that gives medical professionals a role, claiming that it can lead interrogaters’ to use harsher tactics than they would in the absense of medical advice. Medical professionals were used by the military in interrogations and this has drawn a lot...

Hunt for Chromosomal Errors Which Cause Genetic Diseases

Commercially available gene chips have been used by a pediatric research team to scrutinize all of a patient’s chromosomes in order to identify small defects that lead to genetic diseases //. Because currently used genetic tests usually cannot detect these abnormalities, the new research may lead to more accurate diagnosis of congenital diseases, including puzzling disorders that lead...

Voluntary Error-Reporting System Ensures Patient Safety

According to a study by the investigators at John Hopkins Children’s Center//, patient’s safety system can be improved by reporting as well as recording the medication errors into a computer database. Hopkins researchers said ‘Human error rates are minimized by identifying, fixing and reporting on the errors voluntarily plus steps taken to overcome it in the future’. Voluntar...

Revamping Of Healthcare System Required To Bring Down Preventable Medical Errors

According to the Auckland University School of Population health lecturers Mary Seddon and Alan Merry there is a sudden increase in the number of patients// who were victims of preventable medical errors. The article that was published in the New Zealand Medical Journal mainly focused on how careless attitudes of the medical professionals led to an unacceptable number of patients suffer...

NIMH Grants Funds To Study The Impact Of Terrorism

A grant of $2.25 million has been awarded to the Kent State University’s Center for the Treatment and Study of Traumatic Stress-Summa Health System // , and University of Haifa's Center for National Security Studies by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study the impact of terrorism and its effect on mental health of the people. The four-year study will focus on studying about...

Medicare Sends out Reimbursement Checks Erroneously

Around 230,000 Medicare recipients have got checks which erroneously reimburse them for monthly premiums that they paid for prescription drug coverage this year.// The checks which amount to about $215 are almost sure to leave several beneficiaries confused. In addition these checks are accompanied by a letter that mistakenly informs them that the Social Security Administration would n...

Brain Defect boy Compensated for Medical Error

A 16-year-old boy whose brain damage at birth has turned him into a virtual vegetable has finally won compensation from the doctors his parents hold guilty, but that is of// little use to him. The National Consumer Dispute Redressal (NCDR) forum has ordered the Cosmopolitan Hospital here and two doctors to pay Rs.1.1 million ($24,300) to the parents of Chakkara alias Naveen Thomas, ho...

A New drug Developed To Fight The Bio-Terrorism Threat Of VEE Virus

A new drug is being developed that would reduce the bio-terrorism threat of the Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. // Biomedical researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have announced to start the initial step in the development of effective drug therapies against Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) virus, which is a potential bio-terrorist weapon...

US calls 'interrogation techniques' national security secrets

Washington, Aimed at blocking lawyers' access to a high-profile detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the US government called the interrogation //techniques "national security secrets" whose revelation could "cause extremely grave damage", the Washington Post reported Saturday.The US government said the prisoners at secret CIA prisons must not be allowed to talk about the interrogation metho...

Tobacco Smugglers are Helping Terrorists: WHO

Following a trend set by drug traffickers, a new breed of tobacco smugglers is aiding terrorist outfits and India too could be affected soon, a top official //of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. "We know that international drug cartels have some links with terrorists but now proofs are emerging of illegal tobacco smugglers' links with terrorist outfits. Security agencies i...

Low Health Literacy Is The Major Cause For Patient Errors

A new research featured at ACP Foundation's Health Literacy Conference reports on the relationship between health literacy and the common patient errors. //Most often, patients could not explain why they take the prescribed medications or confused about how much or how often should they take them. About half of the adult population suffers from low health literacy – says the research....

Obstacles to Reducing Human Injury and Death Due to Medical Error

As a matter of policy, both the United States and Japan try to reduce occurrences of human injury and death due to medical error. Health officials in both countries realize// that to develop any successful quality-improvement program to address this problem, they must obtain accurate information on the nature, frequency and cause of medical errors. Robert B Leflar, a law professor at t...

Clinical Simulation Technology Could Cut Down Medical Errors

Doctor, the patient's blood pressure is 80 over 60," says the nurse. But, focused on the patient's breathing difficulty, the doctor misses the blood pressure number// and orders the nurse to inject a drug that may cause the blood pressure to drop even lower. This example is only part of a clinical simulation scenario, but such miscommunications between members of a medical team during...

New Regulation to Check Medication Errors

A new regulation will come to effect from Jan. 5, 2007,that is designed to bring down medication errors across hospitals in California. This regulation will help// pharmacists to be more involved in direct patient care. Otherwise, pharmacists are more involved in non-discretionary (clerical) tasks. The new regulation empowers general acute care hospitals to give jobs to suitably traine...

$ 8.1 Million Grant to Tackle Bioterrorism

Medical College of Wisconsin at Madison has been granted a whopping $8.1 million to develop a tool kit that would identify agents of bio terrorism// like the H5N1 virus. This was announced by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. It has been said that the Avian influenza or the H5N1 virus has the potential to become a pandemic. There is also a constant threat from t...