Medication Management
Jul 06, 2023
What Your Practice Can Do About Medication Safety
David L. Feldman, MD, MBA, FACS, Chief Medical Officer, and Richard F. Cahill, JD, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, write about the risks from medication errors and offer best practices for medication monitoring and management.
Professional Education
Medication Management: Strategies for Advanced Practice Clinicians
Medication management is by far the area providers can make the most impact within the professional practice arena. Data from closed claims shows that medication management is a risky area, most importantly the monitoring of medications. Monitoring and management begin when the patient receives the medication until the patient is no longer on the medication. An effective medication management process is essential for safe patient care. Having current patient medication information will assist with subsequent prescribing and a plan of care.
Aug 26, 2022
Dispensing Sample Medications: Risk Management Strategies
If not carefully managed, sample medications can create issues that place patients and the practice at risk.
Professional Education
Alzheimer's 6: Pharmacological Management of Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia
This is the sixth in the series of on-demand webinars training on screening, evaluation, and management of dementia. This webinar details how to discern the signs and symptoms of dementia from other psychiatric issues, and how to effectively treat these symptoms with pharmacological interventions.
Professional Education
Alzheimer's 5 : Use of Pharmacotherapy for Patients with Major Neurocognitive Disorder
This activity includes video lectures and is the fifth in a series of courses that seek to educate clinicians on standardized screening, evaluation, and disease management of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. This fifth course focuses on the most frequently used and FDA-approved prescription medications for Alzheimer's disease and dementias, the current research regarding its use, and guidelines for prescribing and discontinuing medication. The program will incorporate cultural values and beliefs when creating and sharing the pharmacological care plan.
Professional Education
Learning from Pain Management Closed Claim Analysis for Advanced Practice Clinicians
TDC Group has published an analysis of lawsuits and claims filed against pain management advanced practice clinicians (APC). This study completed in 2020 provides quantitative and qualitative information that an APC who practices pain management, including interventional approaches to treatment would find useful in mitigating the risks of unintended outcomes or harms. This study breaks down where most patient injuries occur, what those injuries are, and the lessons learned from those claims.
Professional Education
Safe Opioid Prescribing for Physicians and Dentists
Opioids play an important role in pain management—both in the acute and the chronic setting, but a variety of causes have contributed to an opioid-related epidemic leading to addiction and death. There has also been substantial misuse of opioids by prescription and by diversion.
Nov 19, 2021
Patient Safety Strategies for Oncology
Cancer care is complex and, at times, hazardous work that requires careful attention to maintain safety for both patients and providers. The strategies presented here are essential to enhancing safety and mitigating risk.
Professional Education
Alzheimer's 3: Addressing and Managing Behavioral and Environmental Symptoms of Dementia
This activity includes eight video lectures and is the third in a series of four courses that seek to educate clinicians on standardized screening, evaluation, and disease management of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. This third course focuses on using the DICE method to assess behavioral symptoms of dementia and create and evaluation treatment plans. This course also covers the careful use of medication during disease management as wells as common behavioral issues with dementia patients including tools for management of these behaviors.
Jun 28, 2021
Reducing Risk in Psychiatry Through Effective Medication Management
Medication regimens for psychiatric patients can be highly complex and involve a variety of drugs. Incorporating the medication management strategies outlined here can help psychiatrists keep patients safe.
Professional Education
The Need for Close Monitoring in Hyponatremia: Osmotic Demyelination Syndrome
In reviewing closed malpractice claims, The Doctors Company identified mismanagement of sodium levels during correction of severe hyponatremia as a serious problem that can result in catastrophic permanent neurological injury due to osmotic demyelination syndrome (also known as central pontine myelinolysis). This article highlights the importance of close monitoring of sodium levels during correction of severe hyponatremia, with a slow and controlled pace of sodium correction. Contributing factors discussed include clinical judgment with regard to rate of rise of sodium levels, patient monitoring, choice of practice setting, and communication between providers, especially at points of transition in care.
Professional Education
Pain Management - A Closed Claim Analysis Looking at Risks and Lessons Learned
For the first time, The Doctors Company has published an analysis of lawsuits and claims filed against pain management physicians. This study completed in 2020 provides quantitative and qualitative information that a physician who practices pain management, including interventional approaches to treatment would find useful in mitigating the risks of unintended outcomes or harms. This study breaks down where most patient injuries occur, what those injuries are, and the lessons learned from those claims.
Apr 14, 2021
Off-Label Use: Patient Safety Implications
The standard for appropriate off-label use of medications and other products is what other similarly trained physicians would do, not what the manufacturer of the medication or product recommends.
Mar 23, 2021
Prescribing Opioids Safely: How to Have Difficult Patient Conversations
Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., and opioids account for over 60 percent of those deaths. Building a strong doctor-patient rapport can help facilitate tough conversations with patients about opioid prescriptions and reduce risks that could lead to malpractice suits.
Mar 17, 2021
Virtual Reality for Pain Management: An Alternative to Opioids
Many physicians are exploring virtual reality (VR) technologies as an alternative to opioid prescriptions. VR addresses both attention paid to pain and the patient’s emotional state: The immersive distraction of VR can help a patient mentally transport to another space, such as an underwater seascape, which may also positively affect the patient’s emotional state.
Jan 29, 2021
Pain Management Closed Claims Study
The Doctors Company reviewed medical malpractice claims that closed between 2008 and 2018 and involved pain management physicians as the primary specialty responsible in the claim. That criteria identified 273 claims and lawsuits.
Mar 11, 2020
Analysis of Medical Oncology Claims
We analyzed 101 medical oncology claims to examine common injuries, identify strategies for mitigating risk, and learn what drives claims.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Dec 12, 2019
Office of National Drug Control Strategy Promotes Building an Addiction Medicine Workforce
Dr. Lev recaps a White House event that focused on the field of addiction medicine.
From
The Doctor’s Advocate
Professional Education
Saline Overdose Cases
This activity delivers insights from malpractice claims involving severe hyponatremia. The recommendations and strategies outlined here can help physicians avoid adverse outcomes when treating patients with this particularly difficult and complex condition.
Nov 16, 2018
Opioid Addiction in Pregnant Women and Moms: How to Make a Difference
Treating pregnant women and mothers with opioid addiction calls for a well-informed approach to patient safety.