National policies for risk management in Italy

Sepsis and Nosocomial Infections: The Role of Medico-Legal Experts in Italy

Sepsis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It is defined as the presence of a Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, and it represents a significant burden for the healthcare system. This is particularly true when it is diagnosed in the setting of nosocomial infections, which are usually a matter of concern with regard to medical liability being correlated with increasing economic costs and people's loss of trust in healthcare. Hence, the Italian governance promotes the clinical risk management with the aim of improving the quality and safety of healthcare services. In this context, the role of medico-legal experts working in a hospital setting is fundamental for performing autopsy to diagnose sepsis and link it with possible nosocomial infections. On the other hand, medico-legal experts are party to the clinical risk management assessment, and deal with malpractice cases and therefore contribute to formulating clinical guidelines and procedures for improving patient safety and healthcare providers' work practices. Due to this scenario, the authors here discuss the role of medico-legal experts in Italy, focusing on sepsis and nosocomial infections.

Design and Development of a Clinical Risk Management Tool Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Background:

Patient safety is one of the most important elements of quality of healthcare. It means preventing any harm to the patients during medical care process.

Objective:

This paper introduces a cost-effective tool in which the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is used to identify medical errors in hospital.

Methods:

The proposed clinical error management system (CEMS) is consisted of a reader device, a transfer/receiver device, a database and managing software. The reader device works using radio waves and is wireless. The reader sends and receives data to/from the database via the transfer/receiver device which is connected to the computer via USB port. The database contains data about patients’ medication orders.

Results:

The CEMS has the ability to identify the clinical errors before they occur and then warns the care-giver with voice and visual messages to prevent the error. This device reduces the errors and thus improves the patient safety.

Conclusion:

A new tool including software and hardware was developed in this study. Application of this tool in clinical settings can help the nurses prevent medical errors. It can also be a useful tool for clinical risk management. Using this device can improve the patient safety to a considerable extent and thus improve the quality of healthcare.