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Patient Safety Monitor: Global Edition

This e-mail newsletter provides healthcare professionals with the latest patient safety news from around the world.

2009 | 2008 | 2007

Patient Safety Monitor: Global Edition

Issue 25, December 23, 2008

• Australia: Handwashing, response teams part of patient safety initiative

  Australian Health Minister John Della Bosca says that the government will require hospitals to...

• Malaysian government considers mandatory accreditation for hospital licenses

  The Health Ministry of Malaysia is considering requiring hospitals to be accredited through the...

• New Zealand: Poor hospital discharges blamed for three deaths

  New Zealand Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson issued five decisions concerning...

• Australia: Medical mistakes kill 28 in Victoria district

  In the past year, medical mistakes have killed 28 patients in Victoria, Australia, according to the...

• Singapore: In effort to keep accreditation, clinics change triage system

  Singapore's National Healthcare Group Polyclinics (NHGP), the country's basic medical care...

Issue 24, December 9, 2008

• U.S.: Experts urge residents to sleep

  Experts from the Institute of Medicine have recommended that medical and surgical residents in...

• UK: Hospitals fail hygiene test

  Only five out of 51 hospitals failed to meet hygiene standards that the government of the United...

• Australia: Chemotherapy overdose prompts audit of medical equipment

  After a four-year period in which 11 children were overdosed with a chemotherapy drug, the South...

• UK: One in 10 patients die from medical errors

  The House of Commons Health Committee received news that 40,000 patients die every year from...

Issue 23, November 25, 2008

• Scotland: Medical errors kill thousands, cost millions

  A government-funded study published in the Scottish Medical Journal that reviewed case notes of 354...

• Canadian hospital reused syringes for two decades

  At High Prairie Health Complex, in northern Alberta, a handful of nurses have been injecting...

• UK: National Patient Safety Agency recommends list of never events

  The National Health Service’s National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) is proposing a list of...

• UK: Chemical added to water proves deadly threat to kidney patients

  A chemical added to a Leicester hospital’s water supplies in order to kill bacteria that...

• Scotland nurses’ poor math skills endanger patients

  According to a government report, nurses’ numerical errors are putting patients in danger...

Issue 22, October 28, 2008

• Study shows half of U.S. physicians prescribe placebos

  A new study has revealed that about half of American physicians regularly give patients placebos as...

• Canada: Toronto hospital cuts death rate in half

  Scarborough Hospital, Canada's largest urban community hospital, has turned around its reputation...

• Australia: Doctors work 100 hours a week

  An Australian Medical Association survey of 1,000 doctors reveals that they work between 50 and 100...

• UK: New Web site rates hospitals

  The National Health Service (NHS) has created a plan to post patient comments about NHS hospitals...

• Australia: Handwashing campaign to counter hospital-acquired infections

  By next year, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare will launch a...

Issue 21, October 14, 2008

• Inspection of Scottish NHS leads to concerns over blood transfusions

  Inspectors of National Health Service (NHS) Quality Improvement Scotland, which monitors Scottish...

• China’s Hospital Authority to support external accreditation for hospitals

  Three public hospitals will receive extra resources from China's hospital authority to help them...

• Europe data system pilot launched

  The European Patient Smart Open Services (epSOS), a large-scale pilot electronic health system...

• UAE launches medical database

  The United Arab Emirates launched an electronic database that will connect 15 hospitals and 68...

• Aggressive patients may impede their own care

  A study conducted by researchers at the University of Manitoba in Canada has discovered that...

• HCPro News -- Maureen Connors Potter will speak at international conferences

  Maureen Connors Potter, HCPro’s Vice President for International Services, and former...

Issue 20, September 30, 2008

• Ontario hospitals begin posting C. diff rates

  On October 3, 2008, Ontario hospitals will begin posting infection rates of Clostridium difficile...

• Increased patient population leads to concerns in Auckland

  Auckland hospitals are short of patient beds, jeopardizing patient safety, reports the New Zealand...

• British Medical Association supports patient mobility across Europe

  The British Medical Association (BMA) hasissued a statement supporting a proposol by the European...

• New project aims to cut paperwork for Thai hospitals

  Hospitals in Thailand are implementing "lean manufacturing" principles in an attempt to...

Issue 19, September 16, 2008

• American and Middle Eastern hospitals join effort to improve patient safety

  Hospital leaders from the United States, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Kuwait are...

• International Medical Travel Association pushes organizations to examine accreditation services

  The International Medical Travel Association (IMTA) has issued a statement warning all...

• Scotland’s NHS hospitals infested with insects, rodents

  Hospitals across northern Scotland's are infested with rats, cockroaches, and other insects...

• Limitations on Toronto hospitals during SARS outbreak did not harm patients

  Patients hospitalized during Toronto's SARS outbreak in 2003 did not suffer from the temporary...

• After C. difficile outbreak, Scotland to sends teams to survey infection control

  After a deadly outbreak of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile), which included 18 deaths and more...

• HCPro News - Maureen Connors Potter to be Hospital Awards Judge at Hospital Management Asia

  Maureen Connors Potter, HCPro’s Vice President for International Services, will participate...

Issue 18, September 2, 2008

• Sydney: Calls for transparency after 49 deaths

  Two annual reviews of hospitals in the Sydney West Area Health Service that claim 49 patients died...

• Medical Tourism Association changes accreditation program

  The Medical Tourism Association (MTA) has changed its accreditation program, after its own advisory...

• NHS suffers data loss, patient advocates launch campaign

  Patient groups have launched a campaign to increase confidentiality of patients’ personal...

• Canada: Web-based monitoring system for superbug tested

  British Columbia hospitals are testing a Web-based monitoring system to help detect the superbug C...

• New physician assistants to work in Australian healthcare system

  After Queensland Health Minister Stephen Roberston declared that five pilot hospitals would be...

Issue 17, August 19, 2008

• Scotland: Physician hours soon to be over European limit

  In 12 months, hospitals under the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) must follow the European...

• Ireland: Information Commissioner upset over medical error exemption from Freedom of Information Act

  Ireland’s Information Commissioner, Emily O’Reilly, has expressed concern after a...

• Hong Kong issues new guidelines for surgeons

  In a bid to increase patient safety and decrease surgical errors, Hong Kong will issue guidelines...

• Thailand: New act speeds up compensation for medical errors

  Victims of medical errors in Bangkok may now receive compensation faster, according to a new rule...

• Australia to establish nationwide physician registration

  State Health Minister of Queensland, Stephen Robertson, said he would introduce laws for a national...

Issue 16, August 5, 2008

• Poor nutritional care linked to deaths in Britain hospitals

  The National Health Service (NHS) has reported the amount of incidents in which patients were put...

• Ontario hospitals to begin reporting superbug outbreaks

  Beginning in late September, Ontario will become Canada’s third province to require hospitals...

• NHS mental ward patients suffer high level of violence

  "Unacceptable" levels of violence were found in England’s National Health...

• Hong Kong hospital’s second infant error in a month triggers internal investigation

  After an infant suffering from jaundice at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Hong Kong was given 10 times...

• Sydney company creates software to increase better communication among healthcare workers

  Handing over a patient to the next healthcare provider is an important time to communicate vital...

Issue 15, July 22, 2008

• UK: National Patient Safety Agency forms surgical safety committee

  Britain’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson announced the establishment of a new...

• Five more UAE hospitals accredited

  Five more hospitals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been internationally accredited by Joint...

• Scotland’s health authorities limit use of antibiotics

  In an effort to curb the spread of superbugs like Methicilin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA...

• UK: MRSA rates down; C. diff rates up for elderly

  Although rates of MRSA bloodstream infections have dropped by 11% between January and March 2008...

Issue 14, July 8, 2008

• European Commission issues EHR compatibility recommendation

  According to a recommendation by the European Commission, Europe will have electronic health...

• WHO releases surgery checklist

  In an effort to create higher surgical standards and safer surgeries worldwide,the World Health...

• Safety group warns UK docs to prescribe with caution

  The National Patient Safety Agency has warned doctors and pharmacists to take caution when...

• Germany: Hospitals should implement CPOE

  Leading members of the German National Chamber of Doctors are urging German hospitals to implement...

• U.S.: Disclosed state records reveal hospital errors

  New disclosures of California hospitals reveal a significant amount of patient injuries in the...

Issue 13, June 24, 2008

• UK: Shortage of nurses affecting infant safety

  A shortage of neonatal nurses in Britain may be putting both mothers and infants at risk, reports...

• Australian government preparing for possible doctor strike

  More than 100 anesthetists, surgeons, and emergency doctors in South Australia have handed in their...

• NHS loses 31,000 electronic patient records

  Laptops containing 31,000 unencrypted patient records have been stolen, six from a filing cabinet...

• AMA offers medical tourism advice

  The American Medical Association (AMA) has released guidelines to patients traveling abroad for...

• Former astronaut to form New Zealand patient safety plan

  James Bagian, a former astronaut who has established a safety plan for the Veterans Health...

Issue 12, June 10, 2008

• Canada: More than one in nine ER visits medication-related

  A new study found that adverse drug reactions account for a significant percentage of emergency...

• UK: Private healthcare managers to infiltrate state-run hospitals

  Under new measures designed to help poorly performing hospitals under Britain's National Health...

• U.S. health insurance companies team up to provide coverage overseas

  U.S.-based BasicPlus Healthcare Insurance has announced it will include a series of accredited...

• Canadian healthcare associations support disclosure guidelines for adverse events

  The Canadian Nurses Association and other healthcare provider organizations have worked together to...

• China’s regulators act fast after drug suspected in six patient deaths

  After previous promises to tighten up regulation of its pharmaceutical industry, Chinese regulators...

• HCPRO NEWS-Bangkok hospital chooses new privileging software

  Bangkok Dusit Medical Services PLC in Bangkok, Thailand, has adopted Core Privilege Plus&trade...

Issue 11, May 27, 2008

• Canada: Study finds overworked nurses make more medical mistakes

  A Statistics Canada survey of nearly 19,000 nurses in 2005 shows 22% of nurses who work overtime...

• UK: Government warns doctors to use caution when patients seek overseas treatment

  The Medical Defence Union (MDU) has advised physicians to use caution when responding to patient...

• Hand washing audits become mandatory for accreditation in Canada

  Beginning in January 2009, hospitals and other healthcare facilities seeking accreditation from...

• In Scotland, medication errors affect five patients per day

  Five hospital patients per day are put at risk of becoming a medication errors, victim, according...

• World’s first patient safety professor appointed

  Coventry University in England has appointed the world’s first patient safety professor...

Issue 10, May 13, 2008

• UK: Prescribing errors blamed on physician training

  An Edinburgh University study revealed that almost 75% of junior doctors believed their drug...

• Hong Kong to accredit public hospitals

  China’s government will implement an accreditation system for public hospital to improve...

• Canada’s patient advocates call for disclosure of C. difficile outbreaks

  After various outbreaks of C. difficile across the nation, including one that claimed the lives of...

• CDC: Measles outbreak imported from Switzerland, Israel

  The largest resurgence of the measles since 2001 has been reported by the Centers for Disease...

• Canada: birthing strategy to be assessed

  After a number of sick infants were relocated to U.S. hospitals, the Canadian government is...

Issue 9, April 29, 2008

• U.S. investigators: Contaminated heparin is global problem

  Investigators in the United States found that not only has contaminated blood thinner heparin...

• Depressed residents have more medical errors

  According to a study published in the February 2008 issue of British Medical Journal, medical...

• Blood transfusions could cause harm

  The safety of blood transfusions is coming into question after a report showed more than half of...

• Study: New Zealand children three times more likely for med error

  The author of a three-month study by Otago University in Dunedin, New Zealand, found that New...

• Irish hospital removes wrong kidney from child

  The largest children's hospital in Ireland, Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, admitted to...

Issue 8, April 15, 2008

• Ontario may crack down on cosmetic surgery advertising

  Proposed regulatory amendments awaiting approval by the College of Physicians and Surgeons in...

• Japan’s hospitals to investigate fatal errors

  Japanese health officials said they are revising regulations to require hospitals of a certain size...

• Pharmacists pushed to enter new roles in UK

  The British government unveiled plans to expand pharmacy services, according to the Financial...

• Canada: Experts argue the risk of imaging scans

  The Canadian Association of Radiologists’ annual scientific meeting will devote much of its...

• European Commission wants action against medical errors

  The European Commission is beginning an initiative to help European Union (EU) member states...

Issue 7, April 1, 2008

• Canadian Patient Safety Institute releases disclosure guidelines

  Guidelines on how to disclose adverse events to patients and their families have been released by...

• Survey: 18% of UK patients overseas report problems

  In a survey by consumer watchdog Which? of UK residents who went abroad for medical treatment, 18...

• Singapore's Ministry of Health to regulate high-risk treatments

  The Ministry of Health will provide guidelines on which doctors can perform high-risk cosmetic...

• Australia to introduce healthcare provider register

  Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers will have their names listed on public registers...

• Babies in Norwegian hospital protected with anti-theft alarms

  A Norwegian hospital is planning to implement a new anti-theft system to protect its infants from...

Issue 6, March 18, 2008

• Unclean surgery tools sent back to British hospitals

  Thousands of hospitals in Britain that have been outsourcing the task of sterilizing surgery...

• 14,000 patients rejected in Japan

  In Japan, more than 14,000 patients were rejected by hospitals three times before receiving...

• Germany recalls Heparin products

  German authorities recalled products containing Heparin, a blood thinning agent, after worries they...

• Researchers in Canada develop "beeping" hand hygiene technology

  Toronto researchers have created a small beeping sensor intended for physicians and nurses to wear...

• Thai Ministry ignores cancer drug patents

  In an effort to increase public health efforts, Thailand's new health minister has urged the...

• HCPro, Inc. launches new logo and tagline as part of its new corporate branding initiative

  HCPro, Inc. is launching a new corporate branding campaign designed to reflect the company's focus...

Issue 5, March 4, 2008

• New Zealand report reveals medical mistakes throughout country

  Recently released data about sentinel events in New Zealand for the fiscal years of 2003-2005...

• WHO reports high rates of drug-resistant tuberculosis

  The highest rates ever recorded of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have been released in...

• Researcher in Canada one step closer to MRSA drug

  A scientist studying at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, has made a "promising finding" in...

• ISQua appoints new CEO

  The International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) has appointed Roisin Boland, the...

• China's physicians suffer from patient violence

  Reports from a survey of physicians concluded that the majority of China's doctors have...

Issue 4, February 19, 2008

• UK: Misuse of painkiller prescribing causing addiction

  A parliamentary inquiry in Britain has concluded that its physicians are to blame for a growing...

• Thailand's medical leaders conclude med students need

  During a recent National Health Commission conference in Thailand, medical leaders, academics, and...

• NHS receives unlawful killing verdict for epidural error

  A National Health System (NHS) trust has been given an unlawful killing verdict for the first time...

• NHS in Scotland spends double for medical errors

  The National Health System in Scotland paid a record £23 million for medical errors, a figure that...

• Doctor accused of running kidney racket in Nepal

  Amit Kumar was arrested in Nepal, charged for running an illegal kidney racket near Delhi, India...

• U.S.: CMS approves new hospital accreditation authority

  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved Houston-based DNV Healthcare as...

Issue 3, February 5, 2008

• WHO database shares avian-flu virus information

  The World Health Organization (WHO) has created an online public database that tracks the avian flu...

• New JCI requirement for 2008

  Hospitals undergoing Joint Commission International (JCI) surveys in 2008 are now required to...

• Australian health minister proposes hospital "report cards"

  The Australian Health Minister has proposed a plan that would require all Australian hospitals to...

• Alberta raising standards to thwart superbug

  Health officials in the province of Alberta, Canada, have set standards to stop the spread of...

• UK surgery success rates to be made public

  In a show of support to National Health Service, which will soon collect data on surgery outcomes...

Issue 2, January 22, 2008

• JCI to hold international practicum

  Joint Commission International (JCI) will hold the International Practicum on Quality Improvement...

• Australian cancer center first in nation to use error-reducing software

  Software developed in the U.S. designed to manage intravenous (IV) drug administration will be...

• Studies find high cost, high error in U.S. healthcare

  A recent article of International Medical Travel Journal (IMTJ) reports that recent studies suggest...

• HCPro News - exhibit at Arab Health

  HCPro will be exhibiting at Arab Health January 28-31, 2008, in Dubai, UAE, and we invite you to...

Issue 1, January 8, 2008

• Figures show adverse drug reactions lead to thousands of deaths

  In the past three years, nearly 3,000 U.K. citizens have died after taking medications, reports The...

• Australian simulation centre offers course on emergency response teams

  After one of his patients at Dandenong Hospital died from septic shock and cardiac arrest when...

• UK healthcare leader against NHS regulator merge

  Sir Ian Kennedy, chairman of the Healthcare Commission, an independent inspection body for the...

• UK wristwatch ban may interfere with patient care

  A recent British Medical Journal study found physicians often cannot accurately judge pulse and...

• CDC seeks passengers after TB patient's flight

  San Francisco's Stanford Hospital alerted the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC...

• JCI receives International Society for Quality in Healthcare accreditation

  The Joint Commission International (JCI) recently received accreditation by the International...