Happy New Year! As I was preparing this column, a colleague recommended including a site for those of us who are putting a positive spin on the new year by starting projects and setting other types of goals. The staff at the University of Maryland Medical Center has compiled some suggestions for a successful 2007, and we should try to apply these in our professional lives as well. A few to get you started: set realistic, attainable goals, share goals with others to keep yourself on track, use mistakes as opportunities for learning, and begin as soon as possible to get the momentum going. And reward yourself for a job well done!

I can’t help it … I’m all about the blogs. The new LISZEN–Library and Information Science Search Engine–uses Google Co-op, a create-your-own search engine, to search LIS blogs. Garrett Hungerford, the site’s creator (also a public library network manager and an LIS student), started with the blogs listed on LISWiki (also worth a click), and now there are more than 500 blogs to search. If yours isn’t listed, add your blog to the LISZEN wiki and submit your contact information. Simple. And now, simpler to find that post about [your topic here] that you know you read but can’t remember where.

What are the LIS students up to these days? At the University of Missouri-Columbia, they’re podcasting. Check out LiSRadio, where you’ll find conversations on jobs and other LIS topics, plus interviews with vendors, publishers, and professors. Download a podcast from the archives, or view the calendar for upcoming shows of interest and listen live. Lots of instructions for listeners and participants. Subscribe to feeds for individual series or all of them. Some content is directed at local students, but you’ll likely find something to listen to and even a few ideas for a podcasting in your own information center.

The sheer nature of medical malpractice and how it works is responsible for providing many challenges; possibly more than what people will ever be aware of.

We’ll come back to this topic later.

Making Money With Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is certainly not the best way to make a quick million, but its common knowledge that some people have the process of claiming compensation down to an art.

Such medical malpractice lawsuits send shivers down the spines of professionals in the medical and health care sector.

These so called “opportunists marvel at the possible lucrative outcome of medical malpractice cases. It’s not uncommon for individual companies to pay out millions in personal lawsuit damages.

So now you know that medical malpractice should not be taken lightly. It’s a serious matter for all concerned.

Practicing doctors and surgeons carry huge responsibilities towards their patients. One wrong move can result in patients having to live with some form of permanent disability, or in the most unimaginable cases; even the loss of life!

Diseases Related To Medical Malpractice

There’s a list diseases related to medical malpractice, here is a short list of the top five:

# 1. Breast cancer,
# 2. Lung cancer,
# 3. Colorectal cancer,
# 4. Heart attack,
# 5. Appendicitis.
#

Victims of medical malpractice are often subjected to needless suffering because of a doctor’s or nurse’s negligence.

The remainder of this article is related to medical malpractice insurance companies. Keep on reading and you’ll discover more information related to medical malpractice.

Medical Malpractice Insurance Companies

It can be argued that the business practices of large insurance companies are the reasons for the cost of medical malpractice insurance premiums being driven through the roof.

If greedy insurance companies are not to blame for medical malpractice premium

increases, perhaps it’s just foolish insurance companies.

What is really funny is… the very same insurance companies and interest groups who attempt to take away patients’ rights have no suggestions about how to prevent medical malpractice.

So in spite of what medical malpractice insurance companies want you to believe, there is no medical malpractice insurance crisis taking place. Truth is, all that’s left is a raw deal for the normal woman and man on the street…

For insurance companies and negligent doctors it’s another case.

Doctors and supporting staff face an unpredictable and constantly changing array of serious medical problems which they must assess and handle quickly. Hospitals have a duty to maintain the safest possible conditions in emergency rooms, in order to minimize the chance of errors and injury to patients in this naturally chaotic environment.

Emergency room errors can be caused by many forms of hospital negligence or wrongdoing including:

· Failure to maintain an adequate number of doctors and support staff per shift
· Inadequate training
· Failure to screen doctors and support staff
· Inadequate record keeping procedures
· Inadequate patient tracking procedures
· Inadequate medication administration procedures
· Inadequate facilities
· Unsanitary conditions
· Unethical policies

Every decision and every action taken by every person who works in an emergency room can mean the difference between saving a life or causing long-term injury or death. One mistake can have catastrophic consequences. Common emergency room errors include:

· Failure to fully evaluate a patient
· Failure to fully treat a patient
· Failure to monitor a patient
· Delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose
· Medication errors
· Laboratory errors
· Contaminated blood transfusions
· Surgical errors
· Negligence
· Delayed treatment
· Patient dumping

Hospitals can minimize the risk of errors by maintaining clear and consistent policies and procedures for record keeping, patient tracking, administering medications, and sanitation. Policies and procedures only work when followed up with training and enforcement. In a high stress environment, all of these elements are necessary to keep things running smoothly.

Understaffing results in doctors and support staff who are tired, overworked, and sometimes simply must choose who to treat and who must wait for treatment. This leads to misdiagnosis, delayed, incomplete, or total lack of treatment, failure to monitor unstable patients, and a myriad of simple human mistakes which can have deadly results.

Unsanitary conditions cause infections which can mean a longer and more painful recovery period, loss of limbs or organs, unnecessary long-term medical problems, or death.

“Patient dumping” is an unforgivable, unethical practice which often results in death. When patients are unable to prove their ability to pay for treatment, normally by providing insurance information, some emergency rooms will refuse to treat them, provide partial and inadequate treatment, or delay treatment until it is too late. During a medical emergency, when patients are too incoherent to provide financial information and are not accompanied by loved ones who can provide the information for them, many emergency rooms which practice patient dumping simply let them die.

If you or a loved one has been the victim of emergency room error, resulting in injury or death, you may be entitled to compensation including:

· Current and future medical bills
· Current and future loss of wages
· Rehabilitation
· Long-term disability
· Long-term care expenses
· Pain and suffering
· Loss of enjoyment of life
· Loss of companionship
· Burial expenses

A trip to the emergency room is not a choice. Patients do not have the opportunity to screen and evaluate emergency room doctors and staff and make an informed choice on whose hands they place their lives in, as they would when choosing a physician or surgeon under normal circumstances. Yet, emergency room treatment may be the most important and extreme medical attention a person ever receives.

Cerebral Palsy is a serious medical condition, which effects children’s control over their muscle movement. ‘Cerebral’ refers to the head while ‘palsy’ relates to problems controlling the muscles in the body. Children who develop cerebral palsy may not be able to function in the same way that other children do, which may include problems walking, eating, talking or enjoying everyday play. This condition may be caused by damage to the brain either before, during or after birth. Cerebral palsy does not get worse, but the effects can worsen over time. It first develops due to faulty development or damage to the motor areas in the brain.

There are different causes behind the development of cerebral palsy, which is why you should contact a Texas cerebral palsy lawyer if you feel that your child is suffering due to medical negligence. When searching for an accomplished Texas cerebral palsy lawyer, consider looking through the telephone book or the internet. There are a number of listings and it may be necessary to consult with more than one Texas Cerebral Palsy lawyer before making a final decision. Many attorneys will offer a free initial consultation, which will give you the opportunity to meet with more than one Texas cerebral palsy lawyer without having a large out of pocket expense.

There are many risk factors, preventative measures and treatments involving cerebral palsy. A Texas cerebral palsy lawyer will guide you through these subjects and fight for your child’s right to all future medical costs in the event of medical negligence. There are different types of cerebral palsy, which a qualified physician or attorney may be able to explain. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of this illness, but preventative treatments and early diagnosis are key in helping a child.

This article should not be construed as medical, or legal, advice. If you have any questions regarding this illness, or possible legal actions against a physician or facility that you feel may be responsible for your child’s cerebral palsy diagnosis, contact a Texas cerebral palsy lawyer immediately. A Texas cerebral palsy lawyer should be forthcoming with answers to all of your questions, should sit down and discuss possible legal actions and the various options for recovering damages. Your child may be entitled to future medical care for the rest of their lives and it’s important to contact a Texas cerebral palsy lawyer as quickly as possible in order to protect your child’s rights.

You should know what is “informed consent”. Informed consent is to be obtained from well informed patients about their own health care in making decisions on their own free will before the patient is subjected to serious treatment or operation. This is a legal obligation and it is the ethical right of the patient.

The patient should be aware of his rights and participate in the discussions and decisions. And he should be given the freedom to decide on:
1. the alternatives to the proposed operation or treatment.
2. the process and its nature
3. the risks involved
4. the extend of the uncertainties involved

And if needed repeat the explaining part in a simple layman’s language and make sure he understood and accepted the proposed course of treatment/operation.

The informed consent should be legally valid and the patient should be in a competent state of mind and his consent must be voluntary. In certain cases the patients feel helpless and vulnerable to any coercive tactics. And he or she should be made comfortable and relaxed before the consent form is signed.

The informed consent process should be a clear acceptance of the proposed treatment or surgery and on his/her own free will. To improve the confidence of the patient, he should be allowed to seek a second opinion. This action will make sure the informed consent is a very well informed comprehensive consent.

In some delicate cases, the Doctor may be constrained to withhold certain portion of the information. This is physician’s discretion in the best interest of the patient. This is also tailored information supplied to obtain the patient’s informed consent.

Do you have baby who suffered Birth Injury? Check it out with some experts and make sure. Some specialist Doctors are to be consulted. If you have a baby with birth injury, you have a case. You need help from a specialist Birth injury Lawyer, an expert. It is easy to find one on the internet.

Check your case once again. Search for some articles on Birth injury on the internet. Now let’s have a look. How does this happen? Difficult child birth, baby’s size, position during labor and delivery and negligence are some of the vast and varied reasons.

Some of the causes of Birth injury are:
Breech Delivery
Delayed Cesarean Section
Failure to notice Fetal Distress
Placenta Abruption
Medical Negligence

A baby may be afflicted with any of the following:
Mental Retardation
Cerebral Palsy
Epilepsy
Autism

Injury or defect or deformity, during or before or after the process of child birth, may be any one of the several birth injuries. Cerebral palsy is one of the most common types. And this cerebral palsy is a physical condition caused by brain damage.

The four different types of cerebral palsy are:
1. Spastic cerebral palsy
2. Ataxic cerebral palsy
3. Athetoid cerebral palsy
4. Mixed cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy caused at the time of birth is asphyxia or lack of oxygen during the birth process. This is a complicated situation which is difficult to predict or prevent. Hemorrhage in the child’s brain, an infection or illness in the mother like rubella, toxoplasmosis; low birth weight, intrauterine exposure to drugs or alcohol, premature birth are also reasons for cerebral palsy. The health care professionals such as doctors and nurses are trained to identify symptoms of cerebral palsy. And they do fail to recognize the problem of brain injury in newborn infants some times. This negligence may lead to cerebral palsy. And this negligence is certainly a case of medical malpractice. The parents can claim for compensation for life long care. Did you get an idea? The expert Lawyer in this case will do the rest. Trust him.

Results released by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) indicates that the 2002 national fill rate for family practice residency positions was 79 percent (2,357 positions filled of 2,983 position offered), representing an increase from last year’s 76.3 percent. The fill-rate percentage for seniors in the United States fell from 49 percent in 2001 to 47.4 percent in 2002.

The conclusion of the 2002 match was that medical students are continuing to demonstrate a slight preference for medical subspecialties over primary care practice and are selecting careers that provide more flexible lifestyle choices, potential for greater financial incentives, fewer external productivity pressures, and more generous third party-payer reimbursement.

A study at the Manitoba Health Centre suggests that it will not. According to a study reported in the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association in August:

* Family practicioners between 30 and 49 years of age (64% of the workforce) provided 20% fewer visits per year than their same-age peers did 10 years previously.

* Conversely, FPS 60 to 69 years of age (11% of the workforce) provided 33% more visits per year than the corresponding group a decade earlier.

On a per capita basis, the number of FPS declined by 5%, from 97 per 100,000 population in 1991/92 to 92 per 100 000 population in 2000/01, which paralleled changes in national estimates of FP supply.

Per capita visit rates among Winnipeg citizens (3.5 per year in 2000/01) and average work-loads among FPS (4,193 visits per year in 2000/01) were stable over the decade.

“Given these data, the perpetual focus of policy-makers and care providers on increasing numbers of FPS will not help in diagnosing or treating issues of supply, workloads and access to care,” the article states.

A call for papers has been issued by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) for possible presentation at the 2000 Scientific Assembly to be held September 20-24 in Dallas. Applications must be submitted by April 3, 2000. Membership in the AAFP is not a prerequisite for submission.

Applications may be submitted in two different categories. Category I is for original research relevant to family practice; category II includes case studies and literature reviews. Each category has six author classifications: family physicians and fellows primarily in academic medicine, family physicians primarily in clinical practice, family practice residents, medical students, international attendees and others. The international attendee classification is open to anyone outside the United States who conducted clinical or educational research relevant to family medicine.

The winning presentations in each category will receive cash awards of $1,000. Runners-up will receive $250. All awards are given at the discretion of the Subcommittee on Family Practice Research Presentations. Application forms may be obtained from Carrie Vickers, Scientific Assembly Department, AAFP, 11400 Tomahawk Creek Pkwy., Leawood, KS 66211; telephone: 800-274-2237, ext. 6568.

In 2004, the National Guidelines Clearinghouse placed eight guidelines from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council on its Web site. Seven of the guidelines are on specific disease processes and one is on general care. In addition to straightforward clinical decision making, the guidelines contain medical information specific to patients who are homeless. These guidelines have been endorsed by dozens of physicians who spend a large part of their clinical time caring for some of the millions of adults and children who find themselves homeless each year in the United States. In one guideline, physicians are prompted to keep in mind that someone living on the street does not always have access to water for taking medication. Another guideline points out the difficulty of eating a special diet when the patient depends on what the local shelter serves. As the number of homeless families and individuals increases, family physicians need to become aware of medically related information specific to this population. This can help ensure that physicians continue to offer patient-centered care with minimal adherence barriers.

Each day in the United States, at least 800,000 persons are homeless. This includes 200,000 children in homeless families. (1) As of the beginning of the 21st century, 2.3 to 3.5 million persons were homeless at some time during an average year. (2) Approximately 33 percent of these are families with children, and another 3 percent are unaccompanied minors. (3) Two percent of children in the United States are homeless in the course of a year. (4) Figure 1 (3) shows the composition of the homeless population in the United States.

The Federal Bureau of Primary Health Care defines homelessness using the following descriptors (5):

* An individual without permanent housing who may live on the streets; stay in a shelter, mission, single-room occupancy facility, abandoned building or vehicle; or in any other unstable or nonpermanent situation.

* An individual may be considered homeless if that person is “doubled-up”, a term referring to a situation in which individuals are unable to maintain their housing situation and are forced to stay with a series of friends or extended family members.

* Previously homeless individuals who are to be released from prison or a hospital may be considered homeless if they do not have a stable housing situation to return to.

* Recognition of the instability of an individual’s living arrangement is critical to the definition of homelessness.

State, city, or private definitions (e.g., ones used for grants or to receive certain subsidies) may differ from this.

At the beginning of this century, clinicians from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council (NHCHC) began to adapt clinical practice guidelines for patients who are homeless. In 2004, the National Guidelines Clearinghouse placed eight NHCHC guidelines on its Web site, including seven relating to specific disease processes and one on general care (online Table A). Well-researched evidence that differentiates care for the homeless population from the general population is almost nonexistent. Therefore, the method used to assess the quality and strength of the evidence for those criteria and to formulate recommendations was based almost entirely on expert consensus.

This article summarizes some of the NHCHC guidelines that apply to a variety of conditions that pertain to persons who are homeless. Although some of this information is duplicated in other NHCHC guidelines, most of it comes from the NHCHC’s general recommendations, 6 except when noted otherwise. In addition, some relevant information from more recent literature on the topic is included.

Overcoming Barriers to Care

Millions of persons in the United States with minimal health care access experience barriers to care, but persons who are homeless face additional unique obstacles. Difficulties can arise when a physician tries to build trusting relationships in a population where histories of mental illness and abuse are often the norm. Even when trust is won, finding the appropriate prescribing patterns and education techniques to help ensure adherence can be a challenge for any physician, particularly when food and housing concerns often outweigh those for ongoing health care. Ideally, physicians should develop individualized care plans that incorporate the meeting of basic daily needs.

Unrealistic expectations by physicians are a key cause of patient nonadherence. (5) When adherence is a problem, the physician should reassess goals with the patient. Knowing some of the issues that affect adherence for persons who are homeless may help clarify any unrealistic expectations (Tables 1 and 2 (6-10)).

Building Trust

A full-body, unclothed, comprehensive examination of an adult who is homeless is rarely possible before patient-physician trust and engagement is achieved. Approximately 25 percent of these patients have at some time experienced severe mental disorders such as schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder, and many are survivors of physical or sexual abuse and/or assault. (11-14) In addition, many have experienced negative interactions with authority figures, and because anxiety is highly prevalent in the homeless population, these patients may be averse to the private aspects of the physical examination.