CVME Insider: Nursing Knowledge That Matters

Is it truly the 3rd leading cause of death in America? According to the CDC , in 2015,  633,842  people died of heart disease,  595,930  died of cancer, and  155,041  died of chronic respiratory disease—the top three causes of death in the U.S.  However, according to Dr. Martin Makary, MD, M.P.H a professor at John Hopkins and a recent study he conducted may prove the CDC wrong putting medical errors as the cause of death behind cancer but ahead of respiratory disease. Dr. Martin goes on to state that;    “Incidence rates for deaths directly attributable to medical care gone awry haven’t been recognized in any standardized method for collecting national statistics,” says  Martin Makary, M.D., M.P.H. , professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and an authority on health reform. “The medical coding system was designed to maximize billing for physician services, not to collect national health statistics...

Well it is safe to say that society and nurses have come along way since the 1800's where smoke signals were a form of communication.   Then in 1844 the telegram was invented; and soon after came the telephone in 1876. In 1978 the first email spam was sent to 393 users by Gary Thuerk. However, with the launch of Facebook in 2004 not to mention Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc, etc.  Nurses and other healthcare professionals have been in trouble for social media use at work and away from work. The Risk According to the Nurses Service Organization (NSO); social media is a "Real Risk" for nurses and healthcare professionals.  NSO presents real stories in which healthcare professionals are getting fired, or worse losing their licenses to work due to social media use/abuse.   One story they present is about a physical therapy (PT) licensing board receiving complaints about a PT using his/her cell phone to send emails, text...