Qual Saf Health Care
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Qual Saf Health Care · Apr 2008
Decreasing paediatric prescribing errors in a district general hospital.
In paediatric inpatients, medication errors occur as frequently as 1 in 4.2 drug orders, with up to 80% of these being prescribing errors. ⋯ By investing time and providing appropriate written resources, we have been able to reduce our paediatric prescribing errors on the children's ward by almost half.
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Qual Saf Health Care · Apr 2008
How willing are patients to question healthcare staff on issues related to the quality and safety of their healthcare? An exploratory study.
One in 10 patients admitted to hospital will suffer an adverse event as a result of their medical treatment. A reduction in adverse events could happen if patients could be engaged successfully in monitoring their care. ⋯ Surgical patients, particularly those who are men, less educated or unemployed are less willing to challenge healthcare staff regarding their care than to ask healthcare staff factual questions. Patient involvement strategies which take into account patient characteristics need to be developed for patients and staff in order to encourage patient involvement in this much neglected area.
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Qual Saf Health Care · Feb 2008
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyPatient-actor perception of care: a comparison of obstetric emergency training using manikins and patient-actors.
To explore the effect of training on patient-actor perception of care during simulated obstetric emergencies. ⋯ All multiprofessional training improved patient-actor perception of care. Training using a patient-actor may be better at improving perception of safety and communication than training with a computerised manikin simulator.
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Qual Saf Health Care · Feb 2008
Adequacy of information transferred at resident sign-out (in-hospital handover of care): a prospective survey.
During sign-out (handover of care), information and responsibility about patients is transferred from one set of caregivers to another. Few residency training programmes formally teach resident physicians how to sign out or assess their ability to sign out, and little research has examined the sign-out process. ⋯ Although sign-out between resident physicians is a frequent activity, there are many times when important information is not transmitted. Analysis of these "missed opportunities" can be used to help develop an educational programme for resident physicians on how to sign out more effectively.