Lost in Sign Out and Documentation
Michael E. Detsky, MD, MSc; April 2016
During a hospitalization after a cardiac arrest, an older man underwent placement of a PEG tube for nutrition, and an abdominal radiograph the next day showed "free air under the diaphragm." Although the resident got a "curbside consult" from surgery saying this finding should be monitored, the consult was not documented in the chart. Two days later, the patient was urgently taken to surgery to repair a large gastric perforation and spillage of tube feeds into the peritoneum and then transferred to the ICU in septic shock.
Situational Awareness and Patient Safety
Jeanne M. Farnan, MD, MHPE; April 2016
A man with a pulmonary embolus was ordered argatroban for anticoagulation. The next day, an intern noticed that the patient in the next room, a woman with a GI bleed, had argatroban hanging on her IV pole, but the label showed the name of the man with the pulmonary embolus. The nurse was notified, the medication was stopped, and the error was disclosed to the patient.
Robotic Surgery: Risks vs. Rewards
- SPOTLIGHT CASE
Tara Kirkpatrick, MD, and Chad LaGrange, MD; February 2016
Despite mechanical problems with the robotic arms during a robotic-assisted prostatectomy, the surgeon continued using the technology and completed the operation. Following the procedure, the patient developed serious bleeding requiring multiple blood transfusions, several additional surgeries, and a prolonged hospital stay.
Picking Up the Cause of the Stroke
Vineet Chopra, MD, MSc; February 2016
Hospitalized with poorly controlled diabetes, a man had a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) placed for intravenous pain medications, intravenous fluids, and parenteral nutrition. The next day, the patient complained of headache, unilateral vision loss, and left-sided tingling and numbness. Misplacement of the PICC in a left-sided superior vena cava had led to embolic strokes.
Good Night's Sleep Gone Wrong
Christine M. Gillis, PharmD; Jeremy R. Degrado, PharmD; and Kevin E. Anger, PharmD; February 2016
Presenting with a cough and shortness of breath, a woman with end-stage renal disease was admitted to the medical floor after undergoing hemodialysis. She was given allergy and sleep medications at her home dosages. The next morning the patient was extremely drowsy and unresponsive to painful stimuli. A "Code Stroke" was called.
A Room Without Orders
- SPOTLIGHT CASE
Amy Vogelsmeier, PhD, RN, and Laurel Despins, PhD, RN; January 2016
Admitted to the hospital for chemotherapy, a man with leukemia and diabetes arrived on the medical unit on a busy afternoon and waited until his room was ready. The nurse who checked him in assumed that his admitting orders were completed on the previous shift. That night, the patient took his own insulin from home without a meal and experienced a preventable episode of hypoglycemia.
New Patient Mistakenly Checked in as Another
Robert A. Green, MD, MPH, and Jason Adelman, MD, MS; January 2016
Presenting to his new primary physician's office for his first visit, a man was checked in under the record of an existing patient with the exact same name and age. The mistake wasn't noticed until the established patient received the new patient's test results by email.
Inadvertent Use of More Potent Acid Leads to Burn
Howard I. Maibach, MD; January 2016
An attending physician recommended using acetic acid to evaluate a lesion on the perineum of a woman who had previously experienced a wart in the same area. The resident physician asked the medical assistant for acetic acid and unknowingly received trichloroacetic acid, which burned the patient's skin.
Harm From Alarm Fatigue
- SPOTLIGHT CASE
Michele M. Pelter, RN, PhD, and Barbara J. Drew, RN, PhD; December 2015
Following a non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction, a man was admitted to the hospital and placed on a telemetry monitor. As the monitor was constantly sounding with "low voltage" and "asystole" alerts and the patient was well each time clinicians checked, they silenced the alarms. The patient was found dead 4 hours later.
Managing Ascites: Hazards of Fluid Removal
Kevin Moore, MBBS, PhD; December 2015
A man with cirrhosis and abdominal distension was found to have significant ascites. The emergency department providers performed a large volume paracentesis to relieve his symptoms, but, as the 10th liter of fluid was removed, the patient became acutely hypotensive.
Hyperglycemia and Switching to Subcutaneous Insulin
Tosha Wetterneck, MD, MS; December 2015
Hospitalized with nonketotic hyperglycemia, a man was placed on IV insulin and his blood sugars improved. That evening, the patient was transferred to the ICU with chest pain and his IV insulin order was changed to sliding scale subcutaneous insulin. However, over the next several hours, the patient again developed hyperglycemia.
The Risks of Absent Interoperability: Medication-Induced Hemolysis in a Patient With a Known Allergy
- SPOTLIGHT CASE
Jacob Reider, MD; October 2015
After leaving Hospital X against medical advice, a man with paraplegia presented to the emergency department of Hospital Y with pain and fever. The patient was diagnosed with sepsis and admitted to Hospital Y for management. In the night, the nurse found the patient unresponsive and called a code blue. The patient was resuscitated and transferred to the ICU, where physicians determined that the arrest was due to acute rupturing of his red blood cells (hemolysis), presumably caused by a reaction to the antibiotic. Later that day, the patient's records arrived from three hospitals where he had been treated recently. One record noted that he had previously experienced a life-threatening allergic reaction to the antibiotic, which was new information for the providers at Hospital Y.
An Obstructed View
Jonathan Carter, MD; October 2015
A patient with severe abdominal pain was admitted to the medicine service for observation, pain control, and serial abdominal examinations. Surgical consultation was not requested at admission. Two days later, the patient's abdomen worsened. Consultation led to urgent surgery, which revealed a strangulating bowel obstruction and associated perforation.
Amphotericin Toxicity
Jerod Nagel, PharmD, and Eric Nguyen; October 2015
A woman who had recently had her left lung removed for aspergilloma presented to the outpatient clinic with pain, redness, and pus draining from her sternotomy site. She was admitted for surgical debridement and prescribed IV liposomal amphotericin B for aspergillus. Hours into the IV infusion, the patient developed nausea, vomiting, sweating, and shivering, and it was discovered that she had been given conventional amphotericin B at the dose intended for the liposomal formulation, representing a 5-fold overdose.
Abdominal Pain in Early Pregnancy
- SPOTLIGHT CASE
Charlie C. Kilpatrick, MD; September 2015
After several days of abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting, a pregnant woman visited the emergency department and was swiftly discharged with antibiotics for a UTI. However, she returned the next day with unchanged abdominal pain and more nausea and vomiting. Apart from a focused ultrasound to document her pregnancy, no further testing was done. The patient again returned the following day with increased pain and now appeared more ill. An MRI revealed a ruptured appendix.
A Fumbled Handoff to Inpatient Rehab
LauraEllen Ashcraft, MSW, and Jeremy M. Kahn, MD, MS; September 2015
An 18-year-old who sustained a traumatic brain injury after a motor vehicle collision required a decompressive craniectomy, a prolonged stay in the adult trauma intensive care unit, and a second operation (cranioplasty) several weeks later. After the second procedure, the patient was transferred to a pediatric acute rehabilitation facility, had new onset seizures the next day, and was transferred to an acute pediatric hospital for evaluation. Findings indicated that another surgical procedure was needed, and he was then transferred back to the adult trauma facility where he had his surgeries.
Dual Therapy Debacle
Steven R. Kayser, PharmD; September 2015
Following a myocardial infarction, an elderly man underwent percutaneous coronary intervention and had two drug-eluting stents placed. He was given triple anticoagulation therapy for 6 months, with a plan to continue dual anticoagulation therapy for another 6 months. Although the primary care provider saw the patient periodically over the next few years, the medications were not reconciled and the patient remained on the dual therapy for 3 years.
Privacy or Safety?
- SPOTLIGHT CASE
John D. Halamka, MD, MS, and Deven McGraw, JD, MPH, LLM; July/August 2015
A hospitalized patient with advanced dementia was to undergo a brain MRI as part of a diagnostic workup for altered mental status. Hospital policy dictated that signout documentation include only patients' initials rather than more identifiable information such as full name or birth date. In this case, the patient requiring the brain MRI had the same initials as another patient on the same unit with severe cognitive impairment from a traumatic brain injury. The cross-covering resident mixed up the two patients and placed the MRI order in the wrong chart. Because the order for a "brain MRI to evaluate worsening cognitive function" could apply to either patient, neither the bedside nurse nor radiologist noticed the error.
Breathe Easy: Safe Tracheostomy Management
Matthew S. Russell, MD, and Marika D. Russell, MD; July/August 2015
Admitted to the hospital with sepsis and pneumonia, an elderly man developed acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring mechanical ventilation. On hospital day 12, clinicians placed a tracheostomy, and a few days later the patient developed acute hypoxia and ultimately went into cardiac arrest when his tracheostomy tube became dislodged.
Baffled by Botulinum Toxin
Krishnan Padmakumari Sivaraman Nair, DM; July/August 2015
A 5-year-old boy with transverse myelitis presented to the rehabilitation medicine clinic for scheduled quarterly botulinum toxin injections to his legs for spasticity. Halfway through the course of injections, the patient's mother noted her son was tolerating the procedure "much better than 3 weeks earlier"—the patient had been getting extra injections without the physicians' knowledge. Physicians discussed the risks of too-frequent injections with the family. Fortunately, the patient had no adverse effects from the additional injections.
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