Safety in health care is an ongoing concern. One of the contributing challenges is medication errors. The challenge becomes even greater when the patient care is being provided in a home-health setting. The reporting of medication errors is not always reliable which makes tracking difficult. A research protocol that could find a way to report and track medication errors from home health cases might reveal the problems inherent in the delivery of medication and help to develop an education program to address it.
Managing the care of uninsured patients that come to the emergency room is a problem for hospitals nationwide. Developing a research protocol that examines alternative, less costly ways to deliver good medical care. Creating a "fast track" adjacent to the emergency room for patients with simple health issues like colds and sore throats. This would help the patients receive timely, appropriate-level care and the hospital reduce the expenses related to utilizing expensive ER rooms and equipment for non-emergent care.
We hear about it in the news on a regular basis: more people are becoming ill while in the hospital from hospital-acquired infections. It is no longer limited to those patients on ventilators. Urinary track and skin infections add to the number of hospital acquired infections. A health care management research protocol designed to pinpoint areas of vulnerability such as the operating room and geriatric care units, may be able to develop a protocol for decreasing the number of in-patient infections.