One way to improve surgical outcomes
The other day I read in the Seattle PI about a new system some local hospitals have been using in order to cut back on the number of hospital infections. It includes a lot of checks and balances and colleagues checking on one another. Sounds like a good idea, right?
Well today I saw this article about how some VA hospitals are going to limit the types of surgeries that can be performed to hopefully decrease surgical deaths. Apparently some surgeries are too complicated to be performed at some VA hospitals. Patients requiring those surgeries will need to go elsewhere.
The Veterans Affairs Department so far has named five hospitals that will be limited to performing less-complicated surgeries. They are located in Alexandria, LA; Beckley, WV; Fayetteville, NC; Danville, IL; and Spokane, WA. One hospital in Marion, IL, is not allowed to perform any inpatient surgeries at all. This suspension has been in place since 2007 after investigators discovered a troubling number of surgical deaths and poor care.
This was posted
on Monday, May 17th, 2010 and is filed in the Legal, Patient Care, Patient Death categories.
