Category — Health Industry

In November of 2007 Dennis Quaid and his wife, Kimberly learned that their newborn twins were given a potentially lethal overdose of the drug Heparin. On accident. Upon further investigation it was learned that the error was precipitated by two different doses of Heparin being labeled similarly – leading the health care worker to administer the wrong dosage. The Quaids are not alone.

The 8th annual MEDMARX data report was released Tuesday by U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) revealing a list of 1,400 commonly used drugs that were given in error due to their sound-alike or look-alike names. The findings report that 1.4% of the errors were associated with patient harm – seven of those may have been involved in the death of the patient.

USP (www.usp.org) a private, independent research-based public health organization tasked with setting public-standards for all prescription and over-the-counter meds and dietary supplements as well as other health care products distributed in the United States. Their standards of practice are utilized in 130 countries world wide. In response to increasing med errors USP developed MEDMARX in 1998. MEDMARX provides an anonymous avenue for health care providers to report medication errors. MEDMARX analyzes and tracks those errors, processing 1.2 million drug errors from over 870 health care agencies across the United States since its birth.

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Guest article by Lisa Zyga

One person dies every 16 minutes in the US while waiting for an organ transplant. Although health experts can’t directly increase the number of organ donations available, a network of local organ transplant organizations can find ways to make sure that more people who need an organ get one – and one that fits.

The field of organ transplantation is technologically fascinating and professionally diverse. In the 1940s, organ transplantation was virtually non-existent. Only in the past several decades has the technology caught up to allow patients a high chance of survival when undergoing transplantation. Now, the medical community faces a new problem: a lack of available organs.

In some ways, finding suitable organs for patients is more important than the actual surgery, simply because of the severe shortage of organs. Only about 7% of individuals on the waiting list will receive an organ within one year. While doctors and nurses can usually perform a successful surgery, it’s somebody else’s job to line up the body parts: specifically, an organ coordinator.

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Guest article by Mary Stasiewicz

The health industry is a wide ranging industry with a number of different options for those who are interested in pursuing a health related career. Just selecting a career in this industry can be overwhelming. Besides a number of different types of doctors, other careers in the health industry include nurses, technicians, laboratory employees, dietitians, nutritionists and even personal trainers. This is just a short list of the types of careers available in the health industry. However, before you even begin to narrow down your research to the type of career you wish to pursue and the educational process involved in embarking on this type of career, it is important to determine whether or not you are well suited for a career in the health industry. This article will discuss some of the important considerations you should think about before pursing a health career.

Your motivation for pursing a career in the health industry should be carefully examined. Wanting to help others is certainly a noble cause and a great reason for pursing this type of career but it is not the only worthwhile reason for pursing a career in this industry. If you are motivated by a love of math and science or even if you are drawn to the financial appeal of some careers in the health industry these can also be excellent reasons to investigate these careers. Basically, as long as you have the skills to excel in the career you choose and a dedication to succeed, any logical motivation is acceptable.

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