- By Elliott Haut and Brandyn Lau on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Venous Thromboembolism Collaborative You pack a healthy lunch for your child, but the carrot sticks and apple come home untouched. You donate to disaster relief, but the supplies sit unused in a shipping container. You mail a birthday gift to a friend, […]
blood clots
Blood Clots Show Limits of Quality Care Penalties
Posted by | Measurement of Safety and Quality, Preventing Patient HarmIn the world of medicine, blood clots during hospitalization have become synonymous with imperfect care. As many as 600,000 patients per year experience a blood clot, and more than 100,000 die as a result, accounting for between 5 and 10 percent of hospital deaths. Regulatory agencies have taken clots as signals that safety and quality […]
Blood Clots: The Least-Appreciated Complication of Hospital Care?
Posted by | Patient-Centered Care, Preventing Patient HarmIf you were undergoing a surgical procedure, would you ever think to refuse the antibiotics your physician had ordered to prevent an infection? For most hospitalized patients, that would be unfathomable. And yet, when it comes to another common complication with a far greater death toll than surgical-site infections, both patients and health care professionals […]