Tag: Hospitals

Busy Nurse's Station In Modern Hospital

Hospital Administration and the COVID-19 Pandemic (Part II)

Chloe Reichel Leave a comment

By Chloe Reichel

This post is the second in a series of question and answer pieces with Rina Spence about hospital administration and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought numerous challenges to hospitals and hospital administrators: equipment shortages for both patients and health care workers; steep declines in revenue; and attendant staffing concerns.

Rina K. Spence served as the president and CEO of Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA from 1984 through 1994. Currently, Spence is an advisor to the Precision Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and the Law Project at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.

Spence spoke with the Petrie-Flom Center to offer her perspective on the challenges hospitals are facing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The conversation touched on: the basics of hospital administration; the business-like model by which many hospitals are run; unpopular decisions hospitals are making during the pandemic, like furloughing some staff and slashing retirement benefits; and steps forward in addressing the COVID-19 crisis at the hospital-level.

We’ve lightly edited and condensed the interview, which is running as a series of question and answer pieces. This second installment provides an overview of the administrative decisions hospitals are making during the COVID-19 pandemic, including cutting benefits for employees and furloughing staff.

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Main Entrance Of Modern Hospital Building With Signs.

Hospital Administration and the COVID-19 Pandemic (Part I)

Chloe Reichel Leave a comment

By Chloe Reichel

This post is the first in a series of question and answer pieces with Rina Spence about hospital administration and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought numerous challenges to hospitals and hospital administrators: equipment shortages for both patients and health care workers; steep declines in revenue; and attendant staffing concerns.

Rina K. Spence served as the president and CEO of Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA from 1984 through 1994. Currently, Spence is an advisor to the Precision Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and the Law Project at the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School.

Spence spoke with the Petrie-Flom Center to offer her perspective on the challenges hospitals are facing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The conversation touched on: the basics of hospital administration; the business-like model by which many hospitals are run; unpopular decisions hospitals are making during the pandemic, like furloughing some staff and slashing retirement benefits; and steps forward in addressing the COVID-19 crisis at the hospital-level.

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woman with iv in her hand in hospital. Labor and delivery preparation. Intravenious therapy infusion. shallow depth of field. selective focus

Maternity Care Choices in the U.K. During the COVID-19 Pandemic

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By John Tingle

One of many legal, ethical, and patient safety issues raised by the COVID-19 pandemic across the National Health Service (NHS) is that expectant mothers are considering freebirthing more after home births are cancelled.

The charity AIMS (Association for Improvements in the Maternity Services) states that while there is no specific definition of freebirthing, “…broadly speaking, a woman freebirths when she intentionally gives birth to her baby without a midwife or doctor present. Some women prefer to use the term ‘unassisted childbirth’ or UC to describe this.”

In The Guardian Hannah Summers recently wrote about this issue, which can carry major health risks. For example, if complications occur during a freebirth, professional clinical help will not be at hand to help.

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mask, gloves, goggles.

Are Clinicians Without PPE Morally Obligated to Care for COVID-19 Patients?

Beatrice Brown Leave a comment

By Beatrice Brown

There is currently a dire shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) at hospitals across the United States, especially in areas that have been hit the hardest by COVID-19.

PPE is essential to protecting those on the front lines of the pandemic – the President of the American Medical Association (AMA) has said that without adequate PPE, we may face a shortage of clinicians to treat COVID-19 patients, in addition to other shortages of critical resources.

Without adequate PPE, are clinicians morally obligated to provide care to patients who are either presumed positive for COVID-19 or who definitely have the virus?

Here, I argue that to treat patients without adequate PPE is supererogatory but not obligatory. In other words, this is a noble and praiseworthy act, but clinicians should not be obligated to perform these heroic acts, nor should we blame them, morally, for their decision to refuse to provide care.

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The Ostrich Syndrome and Patient Safety

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By John Tingle

Sadly, the NHS (National Health Service) in England is littered with examples of cases where individuals and organisations have seemingly buried their heads in the sand when patient safety errors have occurred. Attitudes that can be seen in past reports range from,’ it’s not my responsibility’, to procrastination, or passing the buck, assuming that another organisation is dealing with the matter or just simply delaying a response or even ignoring the situation completely.

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Soft-focus photograph of wheelchairs lined up in a hospital hallway

Toward a Safer NHS in 2020

John Tingle Leave a comment

By John Tingle

As the New Year begins its important to reflect on the previous year’s National Health Service (NHS) patient safety milestones in England. We should ask also whether the NHS patient safety agenda will make major advances in 2020.

The year 2019 was another bumper year for NHS patient safety policy developments and crises. Some major patient safety publications were produced, and stories of NHS patient safety crisis continued to regularly hit the headlines. The NHS is no sloth when it comes to patient safety policy report writing and the number patient safety adverse incidents happening. Read More

Three hard hats for construction work lined up on a concrete wall

Enhancing Patient Safety Education and Training through Legal Study

John Tingle Leave a comment

By John Tingle

In the new NHS Patient Safety Strategy for England there is a discussion of patient safety education and training. While safety is now better understood there are significant numbers of people who still have a limited understanding of safety science.

A National Patient Safety Syllabus

A commitment is made to have a universal patient safety syllabus and training program for the whole of the NHS. Health Education England (HEE) will have a pivotal role: Read More

A mother holds her baby close to her chest and gazes at their face

Maternity Scandal Hits the NHS

John Tingle Leave a comment

By John Tingle

Unfortunately, it’s never too long before a major NHS patient safety crisis hits the newspaper headlines in the United Kingdom. The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SATH) maternity scandal has just become a major breaking U.K. patient safety news story.

Shaun Lintern reports in The Independent:

Hundreds of families whose babies died or were seriously injured at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust do not even know their cases have been identified for investigation in the biggest maternity scandal to ever hit the NHS… Dozens of babies and three mothers died in the trust’s maternity wards, where a ‘toxic culture’ stretched back to 1979, according to an interim report leaked to The Independent this week.

Patient Safety Scandals

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Senior female woman patient in wheelchair sitting in hospital corridor with nurses and doctor

Care Quality Commission Annual Assessment of Health and Social Care

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By John Tingle

The independent regulator for health and social care in England, the Quality Care Commission (CQC) has recently published its annual report on the real-time state of health and social care in England. It analyses trends, shares examples of outstanding, good, and poor health care care practices. It provides a true, unabashed account of issues facing the National Health Service (NHS) and health care delivery.

A Health System Stretched

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Photograph of a doctor in scrubs holding a stethoscope sitting on a hospital bed holding a patient's hand.

World Patient Safety Day

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By John Tingle

The first “World Patient Safety Day” took place on September 17, 2019. It is an annual event and one of  the World Health Organization’s (WHO) officially mandated global public health days. The aim is to create awareness of patient safety and to urge people to show their commitment to making health care safer. The publicity generated by the event has worked to focus global attention on patient safety issues and is a call for action in the area.

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