Top Chiropractor in San Leandro, CA

San Leandro Chiropractor

Facts About Hospital Errors

by

HOSPITAL ERRORS

Studies show that medical errors can occur in about one-third of hospital admissions. It is really scary to admit but the facts point out that medical errors are about 10 times more common than what was previously estimated. One study is authored by David C. Classen, MD who is an associate professor of the Salt Lake City’s University of Utah in medicine. Dr. Classen used a new tracking tool to be able to accurately determine where and what areas the common medical errors happen and for them to focus on improving these areas. He doesn’t want to ruin his profession by exposing these medical errors but his main goal is to promote awareness with his fellow physicians with what they need to improve in these areas. Through voluntary reporting and other methods, Dr. Classen was able to develop a new tracking method for determining medical errors.

Protecting Patients From Common Hospital Errors
To name a few most common hospital errors include some medication related issues, hospital acquired infection and procedure mistakes. These are the most common ones which Dr. Classen’s procedure was able to determine. But according to him, proper knowledge by asking question and talking with the physician could reduce the risk of medical errors.It is very important for a patients to know why they are taking certain medication and what effects does it bring to their body when they start taking it. And talking to the physician that would be responsible for the patient’s surgery is also very important. Talking with the physician about all the steps involved and asking questions that might be difficult for a patient to understand are just some of the important procedures that are sometimes taken for granted. A patient should also make sure that when they will undergo certain surgery they should bring an advocate, either a family or a friend that could watch over things and can also help them get a clearer view of things.There are times when a surgery needs to use certain devices like urinary catheter. A patient should ask their physician daily of when they will remove it. Because sometimes infection might develop through this and it should be removed as soon as it is no longer necessary.
Looking For A Second Opinion
It is very important that a patient should seek for a second opinion if they are not satisfied with the findings of their first physician. Some conditions has numerous ways of treatment and there are also several conditions which have the same symptoms and different physicians might have different findings.Another patient safety expert Peter Pronovost, MD believes that the new tracking tool is way too far from fail-safe. He is a professor at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on anesthesiology and critical care medicine. According to him this tool is not really a good measure of the hospital errors problem.Though patients should be very careful in choosing where they will have their surgeries, like researching about the hospital’s bloodstream infection rate and such. And they should make sure that the physician that would handle the operation has a lot of experience in that area. Even in the medical field practice really makes it perfect says Dr. Pronovost. Though he doesn’t deny the fact that this new tracking tool shows the need for patient awareness and system improvement on the medical field, it is just another call to action to raise awareness on hospital errors.

If you have anything to add to this post, please feel free to Post a comment or share your thoughts through Facebook, Twitter or comment section below to join the conversation.


 

Hospital Emergency Room vs. Chiropractic Office Experience

by

Hospital EmergencyOften times when you call your doctor and no one answers the phone the message will usually say: ” In case of emergency call 911.”  The only reason why our patients call us first is because they want to avoid prolonged and painful hours at E.R. waiting room. Some of my patients had to wait for eight hours before they were seen by a doctor or a nurse.  These patients arrived to a Hospital E. R. in order to get an immediate pain relief. However, the E.R. works differently than the way I operate my clinic, or many other private practice doctors, when someone wants to get an immediate pain relief.

Last Friday my wife called me at 6.45pm. I was finishing up with my files for the day. She informed me that our three and a half year old boy got inside of the bag which was hidden in a kitchen cabinet. Inside of the bag was a bottle of Resveratrol that my wife is taking as a daily nutrition supplement. We were not sure either he ate or he threw the pills in a toilet, like he has a tendency to do with everything else. Regardless of what happened my wife took him to a local Hospital E.R.

Hospital

I have arrived to a Hospital E.R. at 7.00 pm. When I walked into the ER the nurse was checking the vitals of our son. She has informed us that we are on a fast track and will be seen by a specialist in 20-30 minutes. She also informed us that while we are waiting she is going to check with Poison Control about how toxic the supplements are to a Child.

Two hours later she informed us that the supplements are not toxic at all and the child will be fine. However, she insisted for us to stay and have blood and urine analysis done. We agreed.

BabyThey called us in at 9.30 pm,  that was already two hours behind the promised schedule. Taking blood from a child was a nightmare. They had to do it two times. It was a traumatizing experience for me watching it and holding him.

Nurse informed us that the lab work will take about 20 minutes and they will know what is going on. That was around 10.00 pm. While we were waiting a nurse suggested that we provide a urine sample as well.  We stayed at the hospital till 11.30 pm and waited for the lab results.

EmergencyA simple procedure took four and a half hours. If I had to take this amount of time in my office to treat patients with the pain I would be out of business by now. I don’t understand how cone these Hospitals prosper and at the same time run so inefficient. My only assumption is that Hospital Administration knows that they are they only game in town and patients have no place to go but to stay and wait. This is not the case with

Chiropractic care in my clinic. If I don’t provide the best possible care to my patients in a timely manner these patients will go to another Chiropractor. I want to assure you that there are more Chiropractic offices in five miles radius of my practice than there coffee shops.

Does this story sound familiar to you or am I the only one who spent many hours in a Hospital E.R? Please tell me about your Hospital E.R. Experience in a comment Section. Thank you.