Dr. Abha on Patient Safety

09/05/2024

From boardroom to classroom this afternoon.

Thank you MPH students at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for an engaging and enriching afternoon. Thank you Prof. Susan Edgman-Levitan for inviting me for a dialogue during the closing session of a course on “Designing and Managing Person-Centered, Safe Healthcare Organizations”.

I returned home energized and optimistic for the future.

07/02/2024

It’s gratifying to have WBUR (Boston’s public radio station) wrap up their report with a quote about General Hospital.

https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/01/26/healey-says-no-bailout-for-steward-health-care-as-financial-woes-continue

As the Steward Health saga unfolds, the chasm between the missions of for-profit health care and safety net healthcare becomes more visible. Hoping for a greater momentum on bridging the divide.
—-
Dr. Abha Agrawal, chief executive of Lawrence General Hospital, said her hospital is prepared to help patients whose care may be disrupted at Steward.

“Our most important goals, collectively, should be: ‘How do we make sure nobody gets harmed, that the patients and communities are safe?’ ” Agrawal said. “We stand ready, willing and able to be a part of the solution.”

The for-profit Steward network — one of the state's biggest hospital operators — is in grave financial distress and may be on the brink of failure, according to health care leaders and state officials.

13/01/2024

Hello Friends, Thrilled and humbled to share that I recently moved to Massachusetts to join Lawrence General Hospital as its President and CEO on Jan 2nd.

I am truly excited about this new chapter in my professional journey and look forward to sharing further updates.

Here are some pics from the reception on Jan 4th. The theme of the evening was: ❤️ ***Transforming Healthcare Through the Ethic of Love**. ❤️ More on this in the next post.

Media links:
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-executive-moves/massachusetts-hospital-welcomes-new-ceo.html

https://whav.net/2024/01/09/lawrence-general-hospital-welcomes-ceo-agrawal-three-new-trustees/

23/09/2022

ALARM FATIGUE in ICU

Years ago, I was leading the analysis of an event that was related to an adverse patient outcome due to a delay in responding to a clinical alarm in an ICU.

I talked to a nurse in the course of the root cause analysis. I never forget her teary eyes when she said, “I have nightmares about alarm noises. I hear ICU alarms after a long shift even when I am sleeping.”. That is ALARM FATIGUE.

Due to excessive and at times unnecessary noise, staff gets fatigued and sometimes in that chaos and nose, a critical alarm goes unresponded leading to a tragic outcome.
*****

Last month (Aug 2022), NY Times published an excellent analysis of the tragic event of an apartment fire in the Bronx that caused the death of 17 people in the building. https://lnkd.in/de239hrF

One particular paragraph caught my attention: "Residents described hearing fire alarms sometime before 11 a.m., but they did not take them seriously, given the history of false alarms in the building. “There’s an alarm that always goes off in our
building,” said Desireth Melo, a sixth-floor resident. “To us, that’s normal.”

This will resonate with many nurses, especially in ICUs.
*****
What solutions, *beyond the usual* to reprimand staff to pay more attention and to never silence alarms, do you recommend to combat this serious risk to patient safety?

07/09/2022

In our upcoming SECOND EDITION of the book on PATIENT SAFETY, Dr. Jay Bhatt is my co-editor. The book is expected to be out in early 2024 and is being published by (supported by Gregory Sutorius with many thanks).

We are featuring a chapter titled "Health Equity: A Key Aspect of Patient Safety" by a passionate advocate and national expert Dr. Derek Robinson, MD, MBA. Dr. Robinson writes that 'Equitable care must be at the core of a hospital and health system’s patient safety program. Failure to look for and identify disparities in patient safety does not mean that they do not exist. In fact, failing to ensure that all patient subpopulations receive safe care will sustain and perhaps widen pernicious health care disparities."

As Chair of the Health Equity Committee at Humboldt Park Health, I have a deep conviction that there can be NO PATIENT SAFETY WITHOUT EQUITY. My deepest thanks- Derek Robinson, MD, MBA and Jay Bhatt.

04/09/2022

In 2013, I had the privilege of being the editor of a book titled "Patient Safety: A Case-based Comprehensive Guide''' # that was published by Springer. The book featured numerous experts who wrote about diverse issues such as medication errors, safety for behavioral health patients, second victim and disclosure of medical errors. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4614-7419-7 . The book has been very successful including over 53k digital downloads and 8 citations.

Now, I am so fortunate to have DR. Jay Bhatt, as my partner and co-editor as we finalize the SECOND edition of this book. Also to be published by Springer.

My deepest gratitude to the authors in the FIRST edition: Dea Hughes, Joseph Conigliaro, Enrico Coiera Jeanne M. Farnan M.D., M.H.P.E Vineet Arora MD MAPP, Ken Ong, MD, MPH, Erin Egan, Mei-sing Ong, Mei Kong, RN, MSN, Abdul Mondul, Robert Weber, Susan Moffatt-Bruce, Verna Gibbs MD, Patricia O'Neill, Eric Klein, barbara rabin fastman, Harold Kaplan, Ethan Fried, MD, MACP, Cynthia J. Brown, MD, MSPH, Rebecca (Suzie) Miltner, Grace M Blaney, Monica Santoro, Thammasitboon Satid, Supat Thammasitboon, Geeta Singhal, Erin Stucky Fisher, Alan Kantor, Stephen Waite, Brian Bush, Rebecca Twersky, Renuka Ananthamoorthy, Robert Berding, Urmimala Sarkar MD MPH, liang, lovett, Alberta Pedroja, d scott, hahn-cover.

#

26/06/2021

Dear DOCTOR FRIEND,
We have launched A4 TeleDoc – an app created for doctors by Dr. Abha Agrawal, MD, FACP, FACHE (Chicago). As opposed to many existing apps, THERE IS NO JOINING FEE FOR DOCTORS. THERE ARE NO MONTHLY FEES. It’s free for you to use.
YOU SET YOUR OWN CONSULTATION FEE. You can decide how much you want to charge.
We charge a minimal 5% fee AFTER you have consulted and you have been paid. If you don’t earn, we don’t earn either. SO WE ARE A TRUE PARTNER. Once you join, you will be visible to patients ALL OVER INDIA on the app. We are promoting the app ALL OVER INDIA; so you can consult on patients from all over India. THIS HELPS YOU GROW YOUR PRACTICE.
AVAILABLE ON GOOGLE PLAYSTORE for now. Coming soon for iOS. https://a4clinics.com/
FEEL FREE TO SHARE WITH YOUR PATIENTS so they can reach you anytime, anywhere.
For any concerns, please send WHATSPP to +91-6268514943