MedStaff Update: April 2013

Hospital Rolls Out Discharge Phone Call Program House-Wide

In a pilot project on D2 and G2S, nurses began calling to check in on patients within 72 hours of discharge. This simple continuation of care intervention had profound results—patient satisfaction scores on both units skyrocketed from the 37th to the 98th percentile. Building on that success, Stanford Hospital & Clinics (SHC) has developed a plan to implement the program house-wide.

Preventing, Predicting and Alleviating Pain at Stanford

Pain management remains a subjective science. One patient's seven out of ten is another patient's three on the pain scale. Researchers at Stanford are moving closer to developing an objective way to measure pain and understanding the individual differences in pain. Their goal? To develop personalized pain treatment that targets the genetic differences in each of us.

Patient Safety Lessons Learned: The Case of the Serious Medication Overdose

By: Steve Chinn, DPM, MS, MBA, Director, Accreditation and Regulatory Affairs

When physicians call out orders without making eye contact or gaining consent from the person receiving the order, patient errors can occur. Learn how one physician's hurried verbal medication order and a nurse's timidness in questioning the incorrect order, caused a patient to receive ten times the recommended dosage of a particular medication.

FEATURED GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Changing How Pain Is Assessed and Treated

By Sean Mackey, MD, PhD

Pain exacts an astoundingly high price from society in economic loss and diminished lives. More than 100 million Americans suffer from chronic pain, at a cost of up to $635 billion annually in medical treatment and lost productivity. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) found that when pain becomes chronic, it is no longer merely a symptom but a disease in itself, one that fundamentally alters the entire nervous system with significant psychological and cognitive correlates. Sadly, as a nation, we are failing to respond adequately to this pressing and widespread public health problem. What are we doing at Stanford to address this tremendous societal problem?