4 Stories You Need: Needlesticks on the Rise, Weighing the Risks of Simulation Education

We know you’re busy, but we don’t want you to miss important healthcare quality and patient safety news. Here’s a roundup of stories you may have missed but need to take a look at before calling it a week. (Subscribe today if you’d like these news alerts delivered to you.)

1. Needlesticks On The Rise, Despite Safeguards
   Despite long-running efforts to educate healthcare workers about the dangers of needlesticks and exposure to blood, clinicians are not taking the precautions they must take to avoid injury. This is alarming from both safety and financial perspectives as the CDC estimates that testing and follow-up treatment for a needlestick can cost facilities up to $5,000 per event.  PSQH 
2. Simulation and Patient Safety — A Complex Relationship
   While the benefits of simulation-based education are many, the potential for harm associated with such training needs to be considered more seriously. Learn what actions educators can take to reduce harm from simulation programs.  ICE blog
3. A System-Based Approach to Managing Patient Safety in Ambulatory Care (and Beyond)
   Explore a set of cases that illustrate how poor outcomes can easily result when sufficient communication and coordination are lacking within a healthcare system. PSQH
4. An Overlooked Epidemic: Older Americans Taking Too Many Unneeded Drugs
   While much attention has been focused on the United States’ opioid epidemic, the polypharmacy problem among aging Americans may be just as serious. Read how some physicians are working to reverse this dangerous and unnecessary trend. Kaiser Health News