A grant was recently provided by Harold Amos Medical Faculty Development Program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is in the amount of $420,000 to support patient safety research which will focus on using health information technology to improve post hosptial management of patients whose medical test results are still pending when a patient is discharged from the hospital. Better communication and management of patients can prevent serious medical error. A recent study has found that current hospital discharge summaries are "grossly inadequate" at documenting both tests with pending results and information about which physicians should receive the test results.
Dr. Martin Chieng Were, M.D., M.S., a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School has headed up the project to study how to better track and prevent what are known in the medical field as "fumbled handoffs." A fumbled handoff is a termed used to describe what happens when a patient is transferred out of the care of one doctor (often after a hospital stay) into the care of another doctor. When proper patient release notes are not kept or generated, patients might not get necessary follow-up care and could even suffer injury or death as a result of such medical malpractice.
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If you or a loved one has been the victim of a fumbled discharge, medical malpractice, or has suspected other medical error, contact a Philadelphia injury lawyer or a Philadelphia accident lawyer today.
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