Objects left in during surgery
Objects left in during surgery
5-The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or CMS is investigating ways that they can help to reduce or eliminate the occurrence of “never events” (ELIMINATING SERIOUS, PREVENTABLE, AND COSTLY MEDICAL ERRORS – NEVER EVENTS, 2006). These events are defined as errors in medical care that are clearly identifiable, preventable, and serious in their consequences for patients. “Never events,” like surgery on the wrong body parts or mismatched blood transfusions can cause serious injury or death to patients. There is not an exact number of “never events” but they are the cause in many deaths and additional health care costs that the CMs is trying to minimize. The rules for reimbursement are changing. The Deficit Reduction Act allows CMS to begin adjusting payments for hospital-acquired infections and reduce the payments when they occur. This has caused for a shift in how hospitals require nurses to care for their patients. At my hospital, they implemented 4eyes on upon admission. This means that two registered nurses must assess every square inch of a patient’s body upon admission to insure that the hospital is not responsible for previously acquired injuries. This helps to prevent unnecessary cost on our part treating wounds that were acquired at home. We still treat them but we are not shown as responsible for their development.
ELIMINATING SERIOUS, PREVENTABLE, AND COSTLY MEDICAL ERRORS – NEVER EVENTS. (2006, May 18). Retrieved April 2, 2019, from CMS.gov: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/eliminating-serious-preventable-and-costly-medical-errors-never-events
6-The CMS reimbursement rules for never events required a shift in the patient care delivery model in inpatient facilities as this caused facilities to provide more quality based care to prevent the possibility of not getting paid for services that would be considered acquired through the facility. Many of the patients that come into the hospitals should be coming for their reasons for treatment not acquiring any other conditions due to their stay. Hospitals would be denied any additional payment for case in which one of the selected conditions was not present on admission. This caused many hospitals to panic and they attained means in order for this to be avoided. Due to this, facilities have developed distinct protocols and measures to make sure that this doesn’t occur. These conditions are known as never events, which include:
1. Air embolism
2. Blood incompatibility
3. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection
4. Certain manifestations of poor control of blood sugar levels
5. Deep-vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism after total knee and hip replacements
2. Falls/trauma
7. Objects left in during surgery
8. Pressure ulcers
9. Surgical-site infections after certain orthopedic and bariatric surgeries
10. Surgical-site infections after coronary artery bypass graft
11. Vascular catheter-associated infection
Reference:
ESBCO Host. (n.d.). Preventing Never Events. Retrieved April 2, 2019, from https://www.ebscohost.com/shared/never-events.pdf.
