restorARTively

Deep within the 117 page 2009 annual report of the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority is a sliver of light into what neonatal hospitalized patients face. A study from 2006 at St Christopher's Hospital in Philadelphia on ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAP) is shared. VAPs are a preventable medical error. At St. Christopher's in 2006 after noticing an increased rate of VAPs that were significantly above the national average, the hospital proactively initiated a literature review and collaborated with other pediatric hospitals. Per the report, this "multidisciplinary team implemented a series of revisions to an existing pediatric ventilator bundle to better serve the neonate population." The changes that were implemented addressed standards for oral hygiene of neonates depending on their gestational age at birth, "securing endotracheal tubes using standard procedures, discarding all tubing and circuits from standby ventilators, altering the frequency of vent...

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 ...