Articles
As the first medical malpractice insurer to establish a patient safety department, we set the industry standard with innovative products and services that reduce risk in your practice and help you avoid claims. Our commitment extends to the insightful content offered here.
Interactive Guide for Hospitals: Medication Management
(PDF)
Medication management can have areas of potential malpractice exposure, and this guide can help uncover risks.
Interactive Guide for Hospitals: Infection Control
(PDF)
This interactive guide is designed to help you uncover areas of potential malpractice exposure in your hospital's infection control policies and procedures.
Orthopedic Surgeons
Susan L. Marr, MSA, CPHRM
Orthopedic surgeons can reduce potential liability by following risk management strategies, such as the Universal Protocol and instrumentation/device checks.
Interactive Guide for Hospitals: Organizational Structure
(PDF)
Your hospital's leadership and organizational structure can have areas of potential malpractice exposure, and this guide can help uncover risks.
Interactive Guide for Hospitals: How to Use This Interactive Guide
(PDF)
These instructions are for our Interactive Guide for Hospitals, which is designed to help you uncover areas in your hospital that could create liability risks.
Medication Safety
Susan Shepard, MSN, RN
Medication safety is a critical component of safe patient care, whether it is general medication knowledge or a provider's awareness of all medications that a patient is taking.
Interactive Guide to Patient Safety for Office Practices
(PDF)
This interactive guide is designed to help you uncover areas of potential malpractice exposure in your practice.
Focusing on Selection and Management of Therapy
Robin Diamond, JD, RN, and Susan Shepard, MSN, MA, RN
Claims dealing with selection and management of therapy illustrate how ineffective communication and lack of coordination of care play an important role in adverse events.
Patient-Centered Communications:
Building Patient Rapport
Wendy G. Anderson, MD, MS
Communication skills can help hospitalists overcome barriers to care by ensuring a clear exchange of information that engenders patient trust.
Interactive Guide for Hospitals: Medication Management System Review
(PDF)
Medication management systems can have areas of potential malpractice exposure, and this guide can help uncover risks.
Teamwork in the OR
Susan Shepard, MSN, RN
Teamwork has come to the forefront as an effective way of catching individual errors and mitigating system failures.
Did Provider Fatigue Contribute to This Patient's Death?
Mary Lerch, RN
Provider fatigue and the rush to get things done when staffing levels are inadequate can lead to mistakes and poor outcomes for patients.
Medication-Related Errors and Liability: What Can You Do?
David B. Troxel, MD, Medical Director
This article outlines strategies for mitigation of medication-related errors.
Sinus Surgery: Key Lessons in Malpractice Risk
David W. Roberson, MD
An analysis of closed otolaryngology claims identified risk management issues such as possible technical problems and inadequate informed consent.
Imperative Conversations: Managing Transitions of Care in the Hospital
Susan Shepard, MSN, RN
Standardizing the handoff process has been shown to lower rates of perceived near-miss events and adverse outcomes.
Analysis of Cerebral Vascular Accidents and Case Studies
Mary Lerch, RN
Physicians can improve patient prognosis by educating staff to recognize signs and symptoms of cerebral vascular accidents (CVAs).
Fire Safety in the Surgical Suite
Susan K. Palmer, MD, and Ernest E. Allen
Fire-prevention strategies are important in the operating room, because even apparently "minor" procedures may pose a fire hazard.
From The Doctor's Advocate
Obesity and Postoperative Surgical Risk
Howard Marcus, MD, FACP
It is especially important for member physicians to be aware of the risks of treating obese patients, beginning with examining surgical morbidity and mortality related to obesity.
From The Doctor's Advocate
Who's in Charge?
David B. Troxel, MD, Medical Director
This case study illustrates the importance of promptly diagnosing and treating spinal epidural abscess.
An Analysis of Internal Medicine Malpractice Claims
David B. Troxel, MD, Medical Director
369 consecutive closed internal medicine claims were reviewed to identify events that place internists at risk for a malpractice claim.
Hospitalists: New Specialty and New Risks
Susan Shepard, MSN, RN, and Kathleen Stillwell, MPA, RN
By understanding the problems that can occur during handoffs and planning effective communications, hospitalists can minimize risk and enhance patient safety.
Dilaudid-Related Morbidity and Mortality from Respiratory Depression
Howard Marcus, MD, FACP
In the case of Dilaudid, an increase in overdosing has been complicated by an apparent lack of understanding by some physicians and nurses of what represents a safe dose.
Focusing on Missed or Delayed Diagnosis
Robin Diamond, JD, RN, and Susan Shepard, MSN, RN
This companion article to "An Analysis of Internal Medicine Malpractice Claims" focuses on the types of claims seen in the allegation of missed or delayed diagnosis.
Strategies to Reduce Liability Risks for Hospitalists
Kathleen Stillwell, MPA, RN
Two common problem areas for hospitalists are confusion regarding the hospitalist's role in the patient care continuum and miscommunication during the different phases of inpatient care, especially during handoffs.
Laparoscopic Surgical Procedures
Samuel Esterkyn, MD, FACS
The safety measures for laparoscopic surgery are the same as for open surgery: good surgical judgment, proper patient selection, and techniques that offer the maximum safe results for the patient.
The Faintest Ink
Carol Murray, RHIA, CPHRM
Complete and timely documentation of the medical record not only enhances patient care, but it also serves to strengthen your credibility if you are called upon to defend that care.
Venous Thromboembolism: Risk Factors, Prevention, and Diagnosis
David B. Troxel, MD, Medical Director
When VTE is seriously considered in the differential diagnosis, it should be confirmed or excluded by appropriate testing.
From The Doctor's Advocate
To Test or Not to Test: That Was the Question
David B. Troxel, MD, Medical Director
This case study examines failure to diagnose a pulmonary embolism.
From The Doctor's Advocate
Shoulder Dystocia: A Major Cause of Liability Claims in Obstetrics
David B. Troxel, MD, Medical Director, and Louis Marzano, MD, FACOG
Shoulder dystocia with brachial plexus injury is the second most common reason for suing an obstetrician.
From The Doctor's Advocate
Court Upholds Captain-of-the-Ship Doctrine
Richard Cahill, Associate General Counsel, Legal Unit
The Second Appellate District of the California Court of Appeal reaffirmed the liability of surgeons in retained-sponges cases.
From The Doctor's Advocate
Challenges in Cultural Diversity: Protect Your Patients and Yourself
Susan Shepard, MSN, MA, RN
Ensuring safe and quality health care for all persons requires physicians to understand how each patient's sociocultural background affects his or her beliefs and behavior.
From The Doctor's Advocate
Vicarious Liability Spreads with Ostensible Partnerships
Leona Egeland Siadek, Vice President, Government Relations
When there is a joint undertaking in medicine, an "implied relationship" of liability can exist even without the benefit of a contract.
From The Doctor's Advocate
Sleep Apnea and Narcotic Postoperative Pain Medication: A Morbidity and Mortality Risk
Ann S. Lofsky, MD
Patients suspected of having sleep apnea syndrome need to be handled differently than routine postoperative patients, especially with procedures that require narcotic pain medication postoperatively.
Alarms Save Lives
Ann S. Lofsky, MD
Many disastrous outcomes never would have occurred had the anesthesiologist activated and responded to the standard alarms on the pulse oximeter and end-tidal carbon dioxide monitors.
Mutual Respect: A Key to Reducing Risk in the Operating Room
David L. Feldman, MD, MBA, FACS
For the operating team to function effectively, its members must have a certain level of mutual respect for one another.
From The Doctor's Advocate
Follow: