According to the infection prevention team, the "Red Box" safety zone consists of a 3-foot square of red duct tape that extends from the doors of those patients who have contracted infections.  This allows communication with patients in isolation while conserving resources.

Currently, most hospitals have rules in place that require health care professionals to wear personal protective equipment before they enter the room of a patient who is in isolation due to infection.  Health officials need to be properly equipped so that they can prevent any chance of cross infection.  However, wearing special personal protective gear to see a patient who is in isolation can be cumbersome.  It can also be expensive.

The findings of the study were published at the 38th Annual Education Conference and International Meeting of the APIC.  The study found that the hospital would save about 2,700 hours a year by using this safe zone system.  Further, a hospital could save as much as $110,000 a year from this technique. 

Using a Red Box safety zone around the person’s room can provide health care professionals an additional visual cue informing them of the need to exercise contact safety precautions.  Earlier, there was only a sign outside a patient’s door to indicate that a patient was suffering from an infection, and that doctors and nurses needed to maintain precautions.  The Red Zone is more noticeable, and provides stronger visual cues to medical professionals.

A new study indicates that people who have drinking problems or other alcohol abuse disorders are much more likely to die from hospital-acquired infections.  These people are also much more likely to require extensive hospitalization after an infection, and may rack up a bigger hospital bill than patients without any alcohol disorders.

The results of the study have been published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Economic Research.  According to the study, patients with alcohol use disorders including alcohol abuse, alcoholism or any other alcohol use patterns that cause harm, are at a high-risk for infections. 

Patients with alcohol disorders who contracted infections were up to 71% more likely to die from the infection.  These people were also required to stay in the hospital for a period of at least two days more than persons who did not suffer from alcohol disorders.  The hospital expenses of these patients were at least $500 more than those patients who did not suffer from alcohol use disorders.

Every year, approximately 1.7 million patients in the United States contract an infection in the hospital.  Arizona medical malpractice lawyers have encouraged proper handwashing and hand hygiene procedures in hospitals as a means to combat these infections.  Health care professionals, including doctors and nurses and others in direct contact with patients, must follow proper handwashing procedures before attending to each patient.  However, such practices may have limited efficacy in the case of patients with alcohol use disorders. 

In such cases, there may be the need for specific therapeutic interventions.  It's very important that patients with alcohol use disorders and their families make doctors aware of these issues.  Both patients, who are scheduled for hospital admissions as well as those who are admitted into the hospital for an emergency, must make doctors aware of such alcohol use disorders.

A commonly used drug that is used in hundreds of thousands of childbirths around the country to move along labor could actually be increasing the risk of maternal postpartum hemorrhage.  The study was published in the February issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and focused on the common drug, pitocin.  This is a synthetic form of oxytocin, which is produced naturally by the woman's body in order to trigger labor.

The study was conducted by researchers at Duke University.  They found a high link between excessive amounts of the drug used during labor, and severe postpartum hemorrhaging.  Severe bleeding after a delivery is the number one cause of maternal death worldwide.  Approximately 1% of women suffer severe postpartum bleeding.  According to the researchers, they found that women with prolonged infusions of pitocin were at an increased risk of bleeding after delivery.  According to researchers, pitocin is often used to move along labor, but when women receive large doses of pitocin during labor, their bodies were desensitized, and the drug failed to work to stop bleeding from the uterus after delivery.

The wide use of pitocin in American hospitals should concern Arizona medical malpractice attorneys about the risks involved in the indiscriminate and excessive use of this drug.  There is no doubt that the drug has its benefits, but research seems to indicate that excessive use does more harm than good.  In fact, a competent gynecologist will advocate using lower doses of the drug during labor to avoid postpartum competitions like hemorrhaging.

The best way to prevent complications arising from the use of the drug is to minimize your need for the drug.  For instance, avoid elective delivery when there is no medical reason for one.  Stay active during labor - keep moving around and avoid lying down in a single place. 

In spite of efforts to minimize medical errors, patients who undergo surgery are often subjected to the most blatant and outrageous surgical errors, including surgery on the wrong site or even surgery on the wrong patient.  According to a new study, there has been little progress in minimizing these serious errors.  In 2004, a Joint Commission introduced a universal protocol that all hospitals and ambulatory care facilities are expected to follow.  In spite of this, Arizona medical malpractice lawyers have been concerned to find that these errors continue to occur at an alarming frequency.

The results of the study are published in the October issue of the Archives of Surgery.  Researchers analyzed data on surgical errors in Colorado.  In the database, doctors reported a total of 27,370 adverse events that occurred between January 2002 and June 2008.  Out of these, the researchers identified at least 25 wrong patient surgeries and 107 cases where the operation was performed on the wrong site.  Five patients, who received unnecessary surgery, received significant harm.  38 persons, who received surgery on the wrong site of the body, were also significantly harmed.  One person who had a wrong site procedure died from his injuries.

The researchers then looked at the reasons for these errors.  They found that diagnostic errors were involved in 56% of the wrong patient operations.  They also found that 100% of these wrong patient operations occurred because of poor communication.

Among wrong site surgeries, the researchers found that 85% occurred due to errors in judgment.  72% occurred because of failure of doctors and healthcare professionals to perform a timeout as the universal protocol demands.  During a timeout, the doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals in the operating room check that they have all the basics in place - that the patient is the one that needs the surgery, and the part that is marked for surgery is the right site. 

Orthopedic specialists seem to be involved in the most number of wrong site surgeries at 22.4%, followed by 16.8% wrong site surgeries in case of general surgeons and 12.1% in the case of anesthesiologists.  Internal medicine specialists were involved in 24% of all wrong patient surgeries.

Patients may be at risk for infection, not just from contaminated hospital surfaces and centerlines, but also from their resident physicians.  A new study has found that approximately 60% of resident physicians reported for work while ill during the previous year. 

The study was conducted in 2009, and involved a total of 744 second and third year residents at 12 hospitals nationwide.  The doctors were asked whether there had been occasions where they had been sick and should have taken time off, but did not, and whether they were able to see a doctor during that time.  60% responded that they had worked sick at least once.  Second-year residents who had more experience were slightly more likely to work while sick at 62.3%.  Both men and women seemed to have the same undesirable practices.

The researchers believe that these unsafe and dangerous practices are due to “presenteeism,” a growing phenomenon in which workers continue to report to work even while they are sick.  Several studies estimate that such workers, who expose other workers to the risk of infection, cost the American workplace $150 billion a year. 

There aren't sufficient studies to determine the costs of such unhealthy practices in American hospitals.  Arizona medical malpractice lawyers know that hospitals may have more to lose than just money when doctors come in sick.  There can be a severe health impact from infections caused when doctors who are ill are in close contact with patients, who are already suffering from a weakened immune system. 

There are several reasons why residents may choose to work while sick.  Such behaviors can be seen in those doctors who are excessively dedicated to their work, or simply cannot find replacements.  There may also be the anxiety of letting down their colleagues. 

Regardless of the reasons, it is important that hospitals take the “presenteeism” phenomenon seriously, and work towards blocking such practices.  It would help if hospitals encouraged residents to take time off when they fall sick, instead of reporting to work.