Prescription opioid (PO) misuse is a major health concern across North America, and it is the primary cause of preventable death for the 18-35 year old demographic. Medication assisted therapy including methadone and buprenorphine, is the standard of care for patients with opioid-dependence. Moreover, both of these medications are recognized as essential medicines by World Health Organization. ...

OBJECTIVE To examine the causes of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) malpractice claims filed with the Ophthalmic Mutual Insurance Company. METHODS All closed ROP malpractice claims were reviewed. RESULTS Eight cases involved failure of transfer of care on patient discharge from the hospital, 3 cases demonstrated inappropriately long periods between follow-up examinations, 1 case was due to ...

To report public health practitioners' perceptions of injury prevention in Changsha, China. We undertook a cross-sectional study at Changsha, Hunan, China. An anonymous self-reported survey was conducted to ascertain the proportion of respondents who answered negatively to questions about the value of injury prevention. Over 20% of respondents answered 'unpreventable' or 'don't know' to whether...

OBJECTIVE Computerized provider order entry (CPOE) has been shown to improve patient safety by reducing medication errors and subsequent adverse drug events (ADEs). Studies demonstrating these benefits have been conducted primarily in the inpatient setting, with fewer in the ambulatory setting. The objective was to evaluate the effect of a basic, ambulatory CPOE system on medication errors and ...

BACKGROUND Existing patient-level data can be used to measure and monitor patient safety. Data from sources including electronic patient records are routinely collected in primary care and may be suitable for adverse event screening, such as patient safety indicators. To inform the feasibility of developing primary care measures of patient harm, information about routinely collected data is nee...

Diagnostic errors are a widespread problem, although the true magnitude is unknown because they cannot currently be measured validly. These errors have received relatively little attention despite alarming estimates of associated harm and death. One promising intervention to reduce preventable harm is the checklist. This intervention has proven successful in aviation, in which situations are li...

UNLABELLED COPD is a preventable and treatable disease caused by exposure to tobacco smoke and poisonous gases. It is characterised by progressive obstruction of the airflow, irreversible once lesions occur in the parenchyma. This article aims to systematically review the disease and its treatment. DISCUSSION Smoking is the main cause of COPD and leads to decreased oxygenation via lung hyperi...

Cigarette smoking is frequently described as the most common preventable cause of death. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by the end of the 21st century one billion people will die of smoking-related diseases, cancer will be the number one killer worldwide by 2010, and by 2030 tobacco smoking will be responsible for 8 million deaths per year [1]. These grim forecasts stem prima...

Childhood vaccination is not compulsory in the UK, yet levels of immunisation are generally high. However, recent concern over vaccine safety has lead to undervaccination and an increase in rates of preventable infectious diseases. Compelling parents to vaccinate their children against their will may be acceptable in significant disease outbreaks, but this is not currently ethically justified, ...

More than 5 million deaths a year are attributable to tobacco smoking, making it the largest single cause of preventable death worldwide. The primary addictive component in tobacco is nicotine. Its addictive power is exemplified by the fact that by far most attempts to quit smoking fail. It is therefore mandatory to understand the biological mechanisms by which nicotine leads to continued smoki...