Regardless of where we practice medicine, it is up to us as individual physicians to ensure the highest quality of care that we can deliver to our patients. At each location, the demography and cultural composition of our patients have revealed different approaches to language barriers, self-understanding of disease, and even the perception of pain.
As a physician, I wrote a recent essay that describes the obstacles I believe most significantly impede the adoption of standards of healthcare delivery in these diverse settings.
I have obtained Six Sigma and LEAN certification and patient safety curricula, and published work on outcomes-based research studies and clinical trials on informatics tools in peer-reviewed journals.
Perioperative Workflow Optimization with Lean management system
Continuous Practice Improvement with Six Sigma DMAIC
💊Medication errors are a preventable (though not uncommon) issue in healthcare and especially apparent in the peri-operative setting where we give medications rapidly.
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☝️Two medications, two blue caps, two VERY different effects. 🤢One is a anti-nausea medication (ondansetron) which is relatively safe in it's available dose (4mg /2 ml).
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💉The other (phenylephrine) is an undiluted blood-pressure elevating medication, that is LETHAL in the available dose. .
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🤜There are several available options to prevent medication comma including closed-circuit feedback and repetition of drug name this prior to injections. Of course, organizing or choosing medication vendors to decrease confusion of medications is very helpful.
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📞📧Please contact Aalap.c.shah@gmail.com for a consultation if you are interested in improving patient safety measures at your center.* .
Aalap Shah, MD, is a board certified anesthesiologist, specializing in general adult and pediatric anesthesiology.
