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Prank in surgery puts hospital, staff on wrong end of lawsuit

A Texas hospital, its parent company, two surgical nurses, a nurse anesthetist, and a surgical tech are facing a lawsuit charging them with assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress after what the plaintiff says was a prank played on him while he was anesthetized for surgery. An appeals court recently ruled that the defendants should stand trial.

Court: Prank 'extreme, outrageous, horrific'

The state appeals court hearing the lawsuit brought by Chauncey Drewery against his former employer and former coworkers Barbara Wiedebusch, RN, and Kristien Williams, RN, was appalled by the alleged prank played on him during surgery.

Discipline is likely from nursing board

In addition to any monetary payout from the defendants in the surgery prank case involving Metroplex Adventist Hospital in Killeen, TX, the individual defendants also might find their careers in jeopardy, says Alex J. Keoskey, JD, a partner specializing in healthcare litigation with the law firm of DeCotiis, FitzPatrick & Cole in Teaneck, NJ.

OR is no place to get casual

Healthcare attorneys tell Healthcare Risk Management that they are privy to some things that might shock a risk manager, such as what really happens in the OR.

"HRM Salary Survey" available in print, electronically

This year you have multiple options for filling out the annual "Healthcare Risk Management Salary Survey." You may go online to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/hrmsalarysurvey, or if you have a smartphone, you may scan the QR code and complete the survey on your phone. A print version of the salary also is enclosed in this issue that may be mailed in.

Nocturnists help avoid night, weekend danger

When you finally pack up on Friday afternoon and go home for the weekend, what is happening at your hospital? Unfortunately, the risk of death and adverse events goes up dramatically.

Seek nocturnists dedicated to the job

To address the problem of increased risk to patient safety in off hours in your own facility, risk managers should first assess the risk. Study the off-hours calls to the rapid response team, cardiac arrest outcomes, sentinel events, and other incidents relative to safety and outcomes, says Carol A. Burkhart, RN, MS, ARNP, CPHRM, CHC, senior vice president with Marsh/Clinical Healthcare Consulting in Chicago.

'Huddles,' timeouts improve ED safety

Communication among caregivers is always important, but never more so than in the emergency department. A collaboration among hospitals across the country and a leading malpractice insurer has produced several simple but effective ways to improve communication.

Strategies boost ED communication

Provider participants in the collaboration organized by Crico Strategies concluded that optimal physician-nurse communication at critical junctures in ED care are key to reducing diagnosis-related errors.

Simple strategies can be used in the ED

Emergency departments (EDs) can improve communication and patient care with simple strategies, says Gregory Cuculino, MD, an emergency physician at Taylor Hospital in Philadelphia.

Aon study: Liability costs for long term care rise

A 4% annual increase in the average claim size is responsible for the growth of long-term care liability costs, according to Aon Risk Solutions' "2011 Long Term Care General Liability and Professional Liability Actuarial Analysis." The study was released recently by Aon Corp. in partnership with the American Health Care Association.

West Virginia highest in LTC claims frequency

These are some more findings from the Aon Risk Solutions' "2011 Long Term Care General Liability and Professional Liability Actuarial Analysis":

National network for adverse drug events

A new online network has been launched to collect and distribute information about adverse drug events in the United States. The new service, called RxEvent, is available to all U.S. prescribers via integration into electronic health record (EHR) platforms and other online services, including directly at www.RxEvent.org.

Healthcare Risk Management – September 1, 2011

September 1, 2011