The International journal of risk & safety in medicine
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Acute pain service (APS) ensures provision of effective and safe postoperative pain relief. The following cases describe a potentially fatal error in managing patients who receive epidural analgesia postoperatively. ⋯ A defined APS protocol should ensure patients' safety. If the protocol is strictly adhered to and with regular audits, preventable errors can be avoided. The acute pain service provider must be alert and responsive to warning signs of any protocol errors.
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In 2010, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law. The Act seeks to improve the access of Americans to improved quality health care, while controlling the nation's escalating health care expenditures. The Act is scheduled for further implementation in 2014. ⋯ The article qualified these findings by emphasizing that doctors must learn to advocate on behalf of their profession if the potential benefits of the ACA are to be realized.
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Review
A compromise too far: a review of Canadian cases of direct-to-consumer advertising regulation.
Since the mid 1990's, Canada has introduced partial direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs through administrative policy shifts. Little documentation exists on how regulation occurs in practice. ⋯ There is an astonishing degree of discordance between public health priorities and regulation of DTCA in Canada. The current approach to enforcement is notable both for its lack of teeth and lack of accountability and transparency.
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Observational Study
Medication errors in psychiatric patients boarded in the emergency department.
Patients boarded in the emergency department (ED) with psychiatric complaints may be at risk for medication errors. However, no studies exist to characterize the types of errors and risk factors for errors in these patients. ⋯ Psychiatric patients boarded in the ED commonly have medication errors that require intervention.
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There is an increasing use of herbal products and herbal medicines globally with the belief that herbal medicines are always 'safe' and carry no risk because they are from natural sources. However, there are concerns regarding medicinal plants and their ability to produce adverse effects. The growing herbal medicine usage has increased the need to monitor the safety of herbal medicines. Thus, the recommended approach by the World Health Organization (WHO) is to include herbal medicines in existing national pharmacovigilance systems. ⋯ These results showed inadequate adverse effects monitoring (Pharmacovigilance) amongst the practitioners and underscore the necessity to educate and enlighten herbal medicine practitioners on the need for pharmacovigilance activity of herbal products.