PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Failure to Communicate by Distracted Doctors Leads to Medical Mistakes

Many medical malpractice claims involve a breakdown in communication between diagnosticians and treating physicians.

2012-02-08
February 08, 2012 (Press-News.org) Complex systems are prone to communication breakdowns, unless there is a concerted effort to properly share necessary information. Unfortunately, the failure to communicate is all too prevalent in the delivery of medical care.

Dr. Peter Pronovost, a leading patient-safety experts at Johns Hopkins University, estimates diagnostic errors are responsible for the deaths of 40,000 to 80,000 hospitalized patients every year. That is a shockingly high number.

With so many errors being made, injured people naturally turn to the legal system seeking proper compensation. And indeed, a recent study by the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn found medical malpractice related to diagnostic errors is on the rise.

Hospital Errors in Communication Lead to Poor Care

Many medical malpractice claims involve a breakdown in communication between diagnosticians and treating physicians. These breakdowns include both doctors and patients failing to receive results of tests, as well as delays in sharing the findings of tests.

Who hasn't been in a doctor's office as they scurry from examining room to examining room? The time pressure of seeing as many patients as possible a day makes simple mistakes in communicating -- and on the other side, receiving and digesting -- important information more likely.

In other words, many medical specialists do not only often fail to communicate properly with patients. There is also often a communication gap between doctors themselves, when they fail to close the loop on conveying the results of diagnostic tests. As a result, claims for medical malpractice increased by an estimated $4.7 million annually between 1991 and 2009.

Why are there so many communication breakdowns in the practice of medicine today? It's not enough to say that modern medicine has become exceedingly complex, thereby multiplying the chance for communication errors to occur. Nor is it sufficient to say that doctors are practicing too much defensive medicine, ordering tests that aren't really needed.

The reality is that, far too often, doctors and other medical staff lose sight of the importance of good patient care. Good care means ordering only those diagnostic tests that are truly needed and following through on those. Healthcare providers have it in their power to close the communication loop, and they need to do a better job of doing so.

In some health systems, this process is already underway. For example, the Veterans Health Administration has begun developing programs for following up on lab results that are abnormal. Electronic medical records may help in implementing programs like these in New York and around the country.

Malpractice and Failure to Diagnose

Insurance companies, hospitals, and self-styled proponents of "tort reform" like to argue that fear of lawsuits results in too many tests. It should be noted, however, that ordering too few tests is also an issue and can lead to misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose cancer.

Missed diagnoses most often include various types of cancer, infection, fractures and myocardial infarctions or heart attacks. Healthcare providers need to work on "closing the loop" through checklists and other safeguards so that lab results do not get lost. Primary care doctors and specialists also need to make sure to actually communicate with each other, so that patient care is paramount.

Article provided by Pearlman, Apat, Futterman, Sirotkin & Seinfeld, LLP
Visit us at www.queensnewyorklawyers.com


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

EASL publishes first European Clinical Practice Guidelines for Wilson's disease

2012-02-08
Geneva, Switzerland: The first European Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) for the diagnosis and management of Wilson's disease are published today by the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) on the EASL website -- www.easl.eu.(1) Developed to assist physicians and healthcare providers in the clinical decision making process, the guidelines describe best practice for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with Wilson's disease -- a rare genetic(2) disorder that, if left untreated, is fatal. Approximately one in 30,000 people worldwide are affected ...

Preventing bacteria from falling in with the wrong crowd could help stop gum disease

Preventing bacteria from falling in with the wrong crowd could help stop gum disease
2012-02-08
Stripping some mouth bacteria of their access key to gangs of other pathogenic oral bacteria could help prevent gum disease and tooth loss. The study, published in the journal Microbiology suggests that this bacterial access key could be a drug target for people who are at high risk of developing gum disease. Oral bacteria called Treponema denticola frequently gang up in communities with other pathogenic oral bacteria to produce destructive dental plaque. This plaque, made up of bacteria, saliva and food debris, is a major cause of bleeding gums and gum disease. Later ...

State Court Rules on Medicinal Marijuana Law, Orders Implementation

2012-02-08
It appears that Arizona Governor Janet Brewer's attempt to block the imposition of Proposition 203 has come to an end. Last week, a Maricopa County judge dismissed the lawsuit that sought to block the portion of the law that allowed state-run marijuana dispensaries. According to a report by the Arizona Republic, Superior Court judge Richard Gama ruled that the state did not have any discretion in whether the voter-supported initiative could proceed. The law, named the Arizona Medicinal Marijuana Act (AMMA) legalizes marijuana use for people with chronic or debilitating ...

Pneumonia wonder drug: Zinc saves lives

2012-02-08
Respiratory tract infections, including pneumonia, are the most common cause of death in children under the age of five. In a study looking at children given standard antibiotic therapy, new research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine shows how zinc supplements drastically improved children's chances of surviving the infection. The increase in survival due to zinc (on top of antibiotics) was even greater for HIV infected children. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, 350 children, aged from six months to five years old, ...

Scientists 'record' magnetic breakthrough

2012-02-08
An international team of scientists has demonstrated a revolutionary new way of magnetic recording which will allow information to be processed hundreds of times faster than by current hard drive technology. The researchers found they could record information using only heat - a previously unimaginable scenario. They believe this discovery will not only make future magnetic recording devices faster, but more energy-efficient too. The results of the research, which was led by the University of York's Department of Physics, are reported in the February edition of Nature ...

Home Foreclosures Rise in Chicago After Lull

2012-02-08
A surge of foreclosure filings over the past two months are threatening homeowners in Chicago. For almost a year foreclosures were on hold while mortgage companies sorted out the mess created by the robo-signing scandal. In November 2011, one in every 579 homes was in foreclosure, according to RealtyTrac, a company monitoring foreclosure properties. In Illinois alone, one in every 427 properties was in foreclosure in November 2011, placing it fourth in the nation in the number of foreclosures. Cook County had the highest number of foreclosures pending in the state at ...

CD97 gene expression and function correlate with WT1 protein expression and glioma invasiveness

2012-02-08
Charlottesville, VA (February 7, 2012). Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center's VCU Massey Cancer Center and Harold F. Young Neurosurgical Center (Richmond, VA) and Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA) have discovered that suppression of Wilms tumor 1 protein (WT1) results in downregulation of CD97 gene expression in three glioblastoma cell lines and reduces the characteristic invasiveness exhibited by glial tumor cells. This finding is announced in the article, "Novel report of expression and function of CD97 in malignant gliomas: correlation ...

Padded headgear, boxing gloves may offer some protection for fighters

2012-02-08
Cleveland -- The use of padded headgear and gloves reduces the impact that fighters absorb from hits to the head, according to newly published research from Cleveland Clinic. In their biomechanics lab at Cleveland Clinic's Lutheran Hospital, the researchers replicated hook punches to the head using a crash test dummy and a pendulum. The impacts were measured under five padding configurations: without headgear or boxing gloves; with headgear and boxing gloves; with headgear but without boxing gloves; with boxing gloves but without headgear; and with mixed martial arts-style ...

Counties with thriving small businesses have healthier residents, LSU and Baylor researchers find

2012-02-08
Counties and parishes with a greater concentration of small, locally-owned businesses have healthier populations — with lower rates of mortality, obesity and diabetes — than do those that rely on large companies with "absentee" owners, according to a national study by sociologists at LSU and Baylor University. "What stands out about this research is that we often think of the economic benefits and job growth that small business generates, but we don't think of the social benefits to small communities," said Troy C. Blanchard, Ph.D., lead author and associate professor ...

Researchers increase understanding of gene's potentially protective role in Parkinson's

2012-02-08
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Treatments for Parkinson's disease, estimated to affect 1 million Americans, have yet to prove effective in slowing the progression of the debilitating disease. However, University of Alabama researchers have identified how a specific gene protects dopamine-producing neurons from dying in both animal models and in cultures of human neurons, according to a scientific article publishing in the Feb. 8 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience. This increased understanding of the gene's neuro-protective capability is, the researchers said, another step toward ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Heat and heavy metals are changing the way that bees buzz

What’s behind the enormous increase in early-onset gastrointestinal cancers?

Pharmacogenomics expert advances precision medicine for bipolar disorder

Brazilian researcher explores centenarian stem cells for aging insights

Dr. Xuyu Qian's breakthrough analysis of 18 million brain cells advances understanding of human brain development

Gene networks decode human brain architecture from health to glioma

How artificial light at night damages brain health and metabolism

For ultrasound, ultra-strength not always a good thing

Matching your workouts to your personality could make exercising more enjoyable and give you better results

Study shows people perceive biodiversity

Personality type can predict which forms of exercise people enjoy

People can accurately judge biodiversity through sight and sound

People diagnosed with dementia are living longer, global study shows

When domesticated rabbits go feral, new morphologies emerge

Rain events could cause major failure of Waikīkī storm drainage by 2050

Breakthrough in upconversion luminescence research: Uncovering the energy back transfer mechanism

Hidden role of 'cell protector' opens cancer treatment possibilities

How plants build the microbiome they need to survive in a tough environment

Depression due to politics and its quiet danger to democracy addressed in new book 'The Sad Citizen'

International experts and patients unite to help ensure all patients are fully informed before consenting to new surgical procedures

Melting glaciers could trigger more explosive eruptions globally, finds research

Nearly half of U.S. grandchildren live within 10 miles of a grandparent

Study demonstrates low-cost method to remove CO₂ from air using cold temperatures, common materials

Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) welcomes 13 students to prestigious Summer Fellowship program

Mass timber could elevate hospital construction

A nuanced model of soil moisture illuminates plant behavior and climate patterns

$2.6 million NIH grant backs search for genetic cure in deadly heart disease

Pennsylvania’s medical cannabis program changed drastically when anxiety was added as a qualifying condition

1 in 5 overweight adults could be reclassified with obesity according to new framework

Findings of study on how illegally manufactured fentanyl enters U.S. contradict common assumptions, undermining efforts to control supply

[Press-News.org] Failure to Communicate by Distracted Doctors Leads to Medical Mistakes
Many medical malpractice claims involve a breakdown in communication between diagnosticians and treating physicians.