Death and brain damage in newborns is a major issue not only when it comes to patient safety but also in the world of malpractice — death and brain damage in newborns and their mothers occurred in 51 percent of claims involving obstetric anesthesia, according to data cited at the 15th Annual Advanced Forum on Obstetric Malpractice Claims.
At the conference, Michael Wong, the founder and executive director of Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety, touched on three ways to mitigate this major patient safety issue.
1. Have the right equipment and make sure everyone knows how to use it properly. "Unless you have drilled for it, and trained for it, it can be hard to pull off," he said of handling emergency situations.
2. Monitor patients, following accepted standards of practice. Improperly monitoring patients poses a significant risk to patient safety.
3. Adjust the anesthetic care plan per monitors' reports. According to Mr. Wong, being able to accurately assess patients and information from the monitor is a key area of improvement.