Comments on: One Doctor's Crusade For Hospital Reform

Dr. Donald Berwick's Institute for Healthcare Improvement Hopes To Save Lives By Making Hospitals Safer

[cat012]

would like to know how to get in touch with dr.donald berwick,things here at martinsville hospital are pretty bad also,i almost died this past wednesday jan 31,due to lack of communication which resulted in giving me meds to fast in iv,i went in with pneumonia and asthma wrong meds also,my doctor came in next morning and said i didnt realize how close i had been to death,if i had been a little older my would have had heart failure,and kidneys with have shut down,my doctor is highly upset as i am,she wants me to file a paper to the administration board,but i dont really think that will go along way,please pass this note on to dr.donald berwick,i would greatly appreciate it,there is more to this story,sincerely,cat012

[drdenisee]

It's sad that no one comments on the good things that physicians and other medical staff do with healthcare reimbursement dropping and medical liability increasing. When a national news organization covers an issue in this way with no counter coverage about the good things, people continue to be litigious without recognition for fact or reason. The baby that died from dehydration due to burns? Dehydration is a known risk due to burns....Get ALL the facts and get them all straight before you put out a story like this.

[anopinion1]

One thing, above many other, medical classes engrain into you is to wash your hands before every procedure then put on gloves do what it is you need to do, take off the gloves and wash your hands again.
If their is still a problem today with hospital employes not washing their hands its really pretty sad and careless.

[klosinski1]

There is a great book that I just read called "Nursing against the odds". It can really open your eyes to some of the problems going on behind the scenes in the healthcare industry.

[gmamagonz]

The rates of deaths are such a wide range I am curious as to his source of data. I am nurse working in a hospital in a metropolitan area with nationally recognitized medical center. It does take all services medical, nursing, and ancillary staff to turn things around. What most people don't know is that most quality improvement systems are developed and initiated by the nursing departments. Physicians can be very resistant to change. Mandates to alieviate patient's pain, and reconciling medications are initiated by Joint Commission Review Boards. Sometimes however specialty area issues are not addressed. Labor and Delivery is one of them.
The focus such as procedure site seems rediculous from that aspect. There are only two sites, one the baby chooses and one the physician chooses. Mandating care takes away critical thinking skills and staffing shortages takes away consistency at the bedside.

[michellem99-2009]

I lost family members due this very thing. I almost lost what little sight I have due to this. I am thankful a Dr. was able to save my only low vision eye after one of his peers messed up. I was so scared. I know hospitals are dirty,nasty places.They truly NEED to clean up and do a better job at it. There is no ifs,ands or buts in this issue. I am grateful that somebody has brought this into the open. Now don't think about it-Do it. The hospitals need to be safe and clean. They need to step up to plate and do the right thing. I feel that the Drs and others who work in the hospitals have to do better as this is an outcry for health and safety. I don't fully trust the hospitals. I do have my reasons. I want to live not die in a nasty place. Katie,dear as you tell the news you do bring to light things that need to be said. I keep my hands clean as I use them alot to see with. Best wishes to the Dr. on his mission clean up the hospital care systems. But will the health care systems learn anything from this very timely story or carry on as they always have. It is a wake up call.There is no room for errors. They need know where things are that they use and not be dumb. After all the sick person's needs and welfare comes first and the right care given at all times. Wash your hands. Hospitals are dirtier than the home. Are they too lazy to clean the hospitals or is greed of money the reason or both.

[spenny4242]

Your news piece about the safety in hospitals hit home for me. In 1994 I had surgery (hysty) and after I returned home had to be treated for a staph infection that I contracted in the IV site. That took several trips to the doctor's office and additional treatments to get rid of it. It was in my left hand and going up my arm to my heart. In 2003 I had brain surgery for an
aneurysm. The surgery was the radical choice and done on a monday. The nurse that was on the day shift that monday and the following wednesday would not give me the morphine that was ordered for pain. I ended up with no medication for approximately 8 hours per day. I registered many complaints with my doctor's knowledge and was only told that the hopital would check into the matter but I would never know the outcome. Nor did I get any thing the even resembled an "We are sorry."

[edprichard]

Bravo Dr Berwick! (And CBS) All hospital personnel: administrations, medical, nursing and ancillary staff should be rewarded for detecting and fixing problems, not ostracized. And every patient needs anadvocate.
My wife recently had a spinal infection from Staph, contracted thru surgery and then misdiagnosed for a month because physicians failed to put aside their egos and communicate well. She was eventually overdosed with pain meds, which were not monitored by nursing according to policy. Her breathing slowed, then stopped. I called the nurse and she wouldn't do anything without the doctor's permission (at 3 am). Being a lab person, Navy corpsman and an EMT, I told her to follow the universal protocol and discontinue the drugs and administer Narcan to counteract their effect. She wouldn't because she said she was intimidated by the doctor. She finally relented, providing I agreed to be a witness for her.
Later that day the (incompetent) doctor restarted the pain meds and subsequently my wife suffered respiratory arrest and was placed on a respirator for 15 days in ICU...where a competent surgeon reread the spinal images and performed emergency surgery. Few ever question the interpretations of the radiologists and pathologists. They send written reports that are accepted without sufficient critical analysis and rarely face a "real" patient.
The state governments we rely on do little or nothing to assure professional performance.

E Prichard, Kitsap Co, WA

[bkollmd]

I just wanted to let Mr. Franklin know that Ms. Couric, Dr. Berwick and I all washed our hands before touching the patient and afterwards. We used the alcohol based hand gels that are available throughout the Medical Center. Unfortunately, that was not shown during the broadcast. The Medical Center has conducted numerous campaigns for hand washing/hand hygiene to assure 100% compliance. As part of the campaign many of us wear buttons on our lab coats asking patients to ask us whether or not we washed our hands. Nurses are empowered to enforce appropriate hand hygiene practices. This is something that we take very seriously and it is a team effort.
Sincerely,
Brian Koll, MD

[durant8]

I would like to have a list of the 3000 hospitals that have signed on for this campaign.