restorARTively

Unless you have been under a rock the past two months, you are aware of the current push by our new president to reform health care in the United States. Because of the priority he has given this issue, health care is squarely centered under a national microscope. Finally difficult aspects of our health care system are beginning to be revealed publicly. This has encouraged fuller discussions. We are closer to accepting what the real "disease" in our system is - preventable medical errors. The president and congress are using the term "quality". Today Pennsylvania's Governor has taken a page out of President Obama's playbook by airing on YouTube his arguments for his budget proposal which includes an increase in taxes and Medicaid cuts. Hospital administrators have warned that if the Governor's plan passes as is there could be 8,0000+ job losses in the industry and that there would be inevitable cuts in trauma, obstetrics and burn care. ( Burling ...

The eagle soaring outside the hospital room window influences the dream. The sky is a crisp blue only occasionally dotted with appetizing white puffs. I can feel the sun and dream my ailing son will feel it too. The eagle dips to the right and slants to the left. Its wings are stretched in comfort and confidence. As the sunlight gleams between each unfurled feather it stings my eyes. It is not my place to fly yet. The eagle has not come for me. Days pass but not much else. The eagle visits daily outside the young boy's window and just outside of his sight. The sky color does not change only the sun's routine alters the view. The young patient faces medical trials each day. The eagle becomes more brazen in tempting the youth, I help by nonchalantly nudging the foot of the bed towards the window. Careful not to make a sound and not to jar any of the lines tethering this patient to his bed. The flyer enjoys the audience coursing ever closer to the glass. It brings relief to my bed...

Modern Healthcare Magazine is now accepting votes for the 100 Most Powerful People in Healthcare. After receiving thousands of nominations the editors have settled on a final nominee list of 300. The list will be published in their August 2009 issue. So, in August you can celebrate or be disappointed, or maybe terrified, depending on whom got the most votes. With all due respect for the passion and dedication these nominees share in their work, these lists of “Most of Anything” are fallibly constructed. There really isn't any data or studies or professional evaluations for its worth. It reminds me of the voting that will happen today at my daughter’s school for 7th grade class president. It’s who you know, how many people will campaign for you, and how many friends you have. Does this exercise in health care have merit while there is so much attention and pleas for restoring health to the healthcare system itself? Or is it an exercise in perpetuating the problems by exploiting the ...

The Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority has recently released its Annual report for 2008. The Authority begins by stating that it is “just at the beginning of a journey and we have a long way to go.” The Authority was been at work on this for the past five years; the Institute of Medicine watershed report, “To Err is Human” is ten years old. It has been a decade. In that decade approximately 933514 lives have been lost to preventable medical errors in the US healthcare system. This excusatory beginning to the report is indicative of the entire report. The overall tone of the language used within the report increasingly diminishes the importance and relevance of any patient death or injury. "But” or “that is only..." was used repeatedly in the report. One death is one too many. All this language succeeds in is to stunt any natural response a healthcare provider may be feeling about the loss of one his/her patients. Deep within he report, you will find meaningful data on wh...

This is copywrighted material. No reproduction in whole or in part may be reprinted without express, written permission from the author. Introduction In a response to medical malpractice crisis in 2001, the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority was created through legislation as a result of these concerns there is new data to study. There are 300,000 to 400,000 “sentinel event” (an outcome of treatment that is unexpected and has left the patient preventably injured or deceased) reports in the state each year (Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, 2007). It is widely accepted amongst stakeholders there is underreporting and misunderstanding as to what classifies as a reportable “sentinel event”. Hospital acquired infection, wrong site surgery, ventilator-induced pneumothorax are a few examples that have been identified by government agencies (Agency or Healthcare Research and Quality) as preventable and sentinel events. It appears much concern is driven by medical malpract...