Article in WSJ: "How to Stop Hospitals From Killing Us"

[Chuck Connors]

Interesting article in the The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 22 - 23, 2012).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087 ... lenews_wsj

[Xney]

Excellent article

[DiverCTHunter]

Good points. Too bad that most hospitals' political environments make most of these impossible to implement.

[avi123]

At least check if your room has an antiseptic dispenser at the entrance and don't allow staff (especially physicians) to touch you without gloves.

[BlackSpinner]

two years ago, I was waiting in my accountants office, there was a magazine put out by a local hospital (sort of part of a fund raiser type) In it was an article about how they had implemented a check list system which was such a wonderful thing. On it was things like the patients name and why they were on the table and the list of people who were supposed to be in the operating room. I was stunned at the thought that this wasn't something they did from day one? We always made lists when implementing software to make sure we didn't screw things up and did it in the right order. But no this was a wonderful new concept in medical practice.

Overheard many years earlier:
"There are two Macdonalds here for surgery" "Oh don't worry, one is for a D&C and the other for wisdom teeth. They will figure it out"

[DocWeezy]

Re the list thing: I've been in a local medical system for the past few years, and they ALWAYS have checklists. For a knee replacement a few years ago, I had to be able to both vocalize and point to the knee, telling them what was being done, before they would give me any drugs. During the breast cancer processes this past year, every time someone took a needle out or there was some type of invasive procedure, there was a checklist to be gone through with all personnel in the room and I had to listen and relay back certain things.

I'm having both my hips replaced in three weeks, and--unlike the doctors described in the article--this one is famous for his technical skill and is often called a jerk for his bedside manner. Fine! I don't care if he's friendly; I care that he is incredibly skilled and that his infection rate is less than 0.001% and that his hip failure/need revision stats for the past 8 years are zero. I'd probably be suspicious if a doctor had more of a celebrity type of status...sometimes the best technicians don't have the best bedside manners.

Weezy

[chunkyfrog]

When I discovered the orthopedist who was likely to do my knee replacement had at least one post-op
casualty due to sepsis, and that most of the nurses considered him an arrogant SOB, I began pressing for a
referral elsewhere; which was when my PCP determined that my knee problem was patellofemoral syndrome,
and that surgery was not only not indicated, it would not have helped.
That butcher would have chopped me up for NOTHING!

[archangle]

It should be the law that before any surgery that the surgeon sits down with the patient while the patient is awake and draws marks on the skin in the area where the surgeon is going to cut. And maybe mark other parts of the body with a different colored ink saying "NO".

I'd really love to see mandatory video and audio recording of all medical procedures. With the patient always receiving a copy on a disk.