Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog » Healthcare Disputes

Addressing Disruptive Behavior in Health Care

By Holly Hayes - May 11, 2010

By Holly Hayes Recently, I had the privilege of hearing Robert Wachter, MD speak. He is the Professor and Associate Chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and an expert in the field of patient safety. He spoke about The Joint Commission’s (TJC) recent change in focus, from Safety Goals of the past that included “avoid using high risk abbreviations (those that could have two meanings)̶

Operations Management Approach to Conflict in Organizations

By Holly Hayes - May 7, 2010

By Holly Hayes Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the University of Texas “Innovation in Health Care Delivery Systems: Maintaining Quality and Reducing Costs Through Management and Information Technology”. One breakout session featured Donde Plowman, Ph.d., Business Professor and Department Head from the University of Tennessee. She has recently undertaken a study to increase the relevance of health services research to leader

Patients Engage in Their Own Care More Often When Encouraged by Providers

By Holly Hayes - April 30, 2010

By Holly Hayes An article in the March/April 2010 Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare Magazine by Andrea C. Scobie and D. David Persaud titled, “Patient Engagement in Patient Safety:Barriers and Facilitators” examines the impact of patient engagement in their own care on patient safety. Read more here. The authors give examples of the technical issues in care provision (for example, patient identification, surgical site identificati

Report Emphasizes Need for Teaching Communication Skills in Medical Schools

By Holly Hayes - April 23, 2010

By Holly Hayes The Lucian Leape Institute at the National Patient Safety Foundation released a report entitled “Unmet Needs:Teaching Physicians to Provide Safe Patient Care.” The report concludes that “[U.S.] medical schools are not doing an adequate job of facilitating student understanding of basic knowledge and the development of skills required for the provision of safe patient care.” The report’s 12 recommendations center o

Study Captures Nurses’ Experiences with Disruptive Behavior

By Holly Hayes - April 14, 2010

By Holly Hayes The Journal of Nursing Care Quality published this month the results of a qualitative study titled “Hospital RNs’ Experiences with Disruptive Behavior”. The study describes the different types of disruptive behavior the study group of registered nurses had experienced on the front lines of patient care, identifies the triggers of this behavior, learns how nurses respond to disruptive behavior and identifies the im

In Health Reform, the Power of a Positive No

By Holly Hayes - April 13, 2010

By Holly Hayes Those of us in the mediation field have likely read The Power of a Positive No by William Ury. I was reminded of this book when I read the New York Times article this week, “In Medicine, the Power of No.” See the full article here. William Ury’s preface begins with a discussion of his daughter’s illness and his family’s “long journey through the medical system.” He says, “I realize th

Medical Staff Standard Includes Conflict Resolution Requirement

By Holly Hayes - April 9, 2010

By Holly Hayes The Joint Commission Medical Staff Standard MS.01.01.01 has been approved and will go into effect March 31, 2011. See the Standard here. American Medical News summarizes: “The new standard states that the organized medical staff has the primary job of assuring quality and patient safety in the hospital while laying out a mechanism for physicians, the hospital governing body and chief executive to resolve differences over rule

Disruptive Physician Skit Highlights Healthcare Communication Issues

By Holly Hayes - April 2, 2010

By Holly Hayes The American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) held their annual national meeting in Chicago the week of March 22, 2010. During the meeting, Joseph Bujak, a physician and vice president of medical affairs at 246-bed Kootenai Medical Center, in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho and co-presenter Kathleen Bartholomew, a registered nurse and well-known author on nursing, acted out a unique role-playing presentation on doctor-nurse commu

Where Does ADR Fit in Health Care?

By Holly Hayes - April 1, 2010

By Holly Hayes Readers have asked us, “where does ADR fit in health care? It’s a good question and one we have contemplated ourselves. To learn more, we are undertaking an informal survey asking leaders in the field to share their thoughts and experiences on this topic. So far, we have learned that ADR techniques can be applied with the following groups: Physician Practices and Hospitals: As more and more physicians move out of privat

Can Conflict Resolution Skills Help Risk Managers and Physicians Disclose Medical Errors?

By Holly Hayes - March 25, 2010

By Holly Hayes A new study published in the March edition of the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety (the full article is available for purchase here) and reported on American Medical News (available here) found that physicians are less likely than risk managers to tell patients when a medical error occurs. Physicians, however, are more likely to use the word “error” in describing the event and are quicker to say, &