Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

13 INFECTION CONTROL & PATIENT SAFETY Indiana health system mistakenly gives 16 students insulin shots By Mackenzie Bean C linicians at Indianapolis-based Community Health Network mistakenly administered insulin shots to 16 students at a nearby school, reported Fox59. The students were supposed to receive a tuberculosis skin test at Indianapolis-based McKenzie Center for Innovation and Technology. Instead, employees gave them small doses of insulin. The students were sent to local hospitals for observation. "As soon as the error was discovered, immediate action was taken to care for these students," Community Health Network said in a Sept. 30 statement posted on its Facebook page. "The safety of the students in our care is top priority." The health system said it is working closely with school district officials to determine how the mistake hap- pened and update processes, as necessary. "We have full confidence that the events of today are isolated in nature and will be addressed swiftly by the Community Health Network," Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township said in a statement cited by Fox39. n Ohio hospital will keep Medicare contract after investigation into patient safety issues By Ayla Ellison S equel Pomegranate, an acute care hospital and psychiatric facility in Columbus, Ohio, is no longer at risk of losing its Medicare contract, according to WBNS. CMS cited the facility earlier this year for patient safety issues, including failing to conduct physical assess- ments of some patients after an assault or injury and failing to conduct suicide risk assessments on patients within the first eight hours of being admitted. Sequel Pomegranate submitted a correction plan to CMS. After performing a follow-up survey, CMS de- termined the hospital is in compliance with Medicare requirements, according to the report. n PTSD doubles risk of infection, study finds By Gabrielle Masson P eople diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder are 1.8 times more likely to contract any type of infec- tion, according to a study published in Epidemiology. Researchers studied all Denmark residents with a PTSD di- agnosis from 1995-2011 to examine potential links between PTSD and 28 infections, as well as the effect a patient's sex has on the association. When diagnosed with PTSD, the risk for any type of infec- tion was nearly double those without PTSD. Associations between PTSD and urinary tract infections were stronger for women, whereas other associations, like skin infections, were stronger among men. PTSD patients were also 1.3 times more likely to have meningitis, 1.7 times more likely to have the flu and 2.7 times as likely to have viral hepatitis, according to ScienceDaily. The study findings suggest that PTSD diagnosis is a risk factor for several infections and that the associations are influenced by sex. n 1 in 6 physicians make diagnostic errors every day By Gabrielle Masson O ne in six physicians report making diagnostic errors daily, according to a Medscape poll. Medscape surveyed 633 physician and 118 nurse practitioners/physician assistant for the poll, which was posted June 26. 4 survey findings: 1. Responses varied by specialty, with pediatricians less likely to say they made diagnostic errors (11 percent) than physicians in internal medicine (15 percent), family medicine (18 percent) general practice (22 percent) and emergency medicine (26 percent). 2. Seventeen percent of nurses, advanced practice regis- tered nurses and PAs said they made diagnostic errors daily. 3. Compared to physicians, NPs/PAs were more likely to report daily diagnostic uncertainty, Medscape said. Six- ty-four percent of NPs/PAs estimated feeling diagnostical- ly uncertain everyday, while only 52 percent of physicians reported the same. 4. Among all clinicians, the three most common reasons for making diagnostic errors were "lack of feedback on diagnos- tic accuracy," followed by "time constraints" and "a culture that discourages disclosure or errors," reported Medscape. n

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