Addressing Healthcare Worker and Patient Safety Issues

WHILE THE HEALTHCARE industry has made great strides over the years when it comes to safety for both patients and healthcare workers, there is always room for improvement. In this safety-themed issue, we address three troublesome safety issues, as well as one recent discovery that could save the lives of many in the near future.

Since a main guiding principle for healthcare workers is to take care of patients, it’s easy to assume medical facilities are reasonably safe places. Yet, disturbingly, a growing number of workers report they are victims of violence from those for whom they are caring. And, it’s likely these numbers are underreported since workers often don’t report incidents because many feel their assailants aren’t responsible for their actions due to their illness. As we discuss in our article “Addressing Workplace Violence in Healthcare Facilities,” this occupational hazard can have devastating consequences. Affected workers suffer physically and psychologically, and facilities are greatly impacted financially. In response, facility administrators are implementing violence prevention programs, and policymakers at the state and federal levels are taking legislative action.

Clinical trials are at the heart of ensuring medicines and medical devices are safe for patients, as well as advancing scientific discovery to better treat patients. But, history has shown transparency of clinical trial data has been lackluster at best, thus impeding scientific progress. As we report in our article “Improving Access to Clinical Trial Data,” the Institute of Medicine released a wide range of recommendations to instill a culture of greater data transparency among investigators and shareholders, while also protecting participant privacy. In addition, a private action tank is pushing a social contract titled Health Citizenship to improve data collection, sharing and transparency to speed scientific discovery. And, most recently in 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched pilot programs to enhance transparency of clinical trial data and medical device software standards.

With some diseases, however, safety issues are unknown simply because of lack of study. This is the case for attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) in reproductive-age women who are often prescribed ADHD medicines that could affect them and their unborn children. Indeed, as we report in our article “ADHD in Reproductive-Age Women,” ADHD prescription drug use among this population has increased a whopping 700 percent! This worrisome issue has led researchers to begin looking at the reasons behind this staggering increase, as well as what risks these medicines might pose.

Lastly, it has recently been discovered that human albumin, whose role has historically been thought of as merely a blood volume expander, may have more healing potential. In our article “Human Albumin as Drug Therapy for Decompensated Cirrhosis: A New Lifesaving Role for an Old Player?” we review findings that began with treating cirrhosis and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis that have now led to new clinical trials, which may reveal this plasma product’s new lifesaving role.

As always, we hope you enjoy this issue of BioSupply Trends Quarterly, and find it both relevant and helpful to your practice.

Helping Healthcare Care,

Patrick M. Schmidt

Publisher