The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us all the extraordinary, exhausting work performed by intensive care unit (ICU) doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals as they try to save extremely ill patients. However, as hard as these dedicated professionals work, staffing issues can put patients at risk. In fact, even before the pandemic, many patients in […]
Hospital Issues
How Common are Patient Identification Errors?
Needless to say, it would be upsetting if you were given the wrong medication because a nurse confused you with another patient. Furthermore, what if a surgeon performed a procedure on you that was meant for another patient? These types of errors are the reason health care providers check your wristband and ask for you […]
Tips for Hospital Discharges
You might feel both happy and stressed when doctors decide you (or a loved one) can go home from the hospital. You may feel joy that you will soon be home in your own bed. But you might worry that you, or your loved one, are too sick to go home. Or you might worry […]
Protect Yourself from Superbugs
No one wants to get sicker during a hospital stay. Whether you (or a loved one) are in the hospital for a serious illness or a straight-forward surgery, developing an infection from a dangerous superbug can leave you clinging to life. The bad news: superbugs in hospitals are common and dangerous. And you don’t have […]
What’s a Hospitalist? Do You Need One?
There are over 50,000 hospitalists in the United States, yet chances are you have never even heard the term. What’s a hospitalist? They are doctors, usually internists, who work in hospitals to coordinate and manage the care of hospitalized patients. These “captain of the ship” doctors work with other hospital-based health professionals to make sure […]