Making Strides in Patient Safety

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “patient safety is a serious global public health issue,” with as many as one in 10 patients harmed while receiving hospital care in developed countries. But, it’s not just hospital settings where patient safety is at risk. Emerging diseases, a need for patient engagement and access to medical technologies are but a few of the issues that make patient safety a shared responsibility among all entities.

One of the most pressing problems occurring in hospitals is antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to antibiotics. Once deemed “wonder drugs,” antibiotics are poised for demise becausesuperbugs are circumventing them. In our article “Superbug Apocalypse: A Post-Antibiotic Era?” we look at the evolution of antibiotics and how their misuse has allowed a host of deadly infections resistant to treatment to become an ominous threat. Indeed, just this past year, a superbug strain was discovered that is resistant to virtually every known antibiotic. With AMR-related deaths poised to reach 10 million annually by 2050, the superbug threat has caught the world’s attention. Healthcare professionals are urged to curb overprescription of antibiotics, laws have been enacted to constrain the use of them in livestock, and scientists are scrambling to develop more sophisticated ones.

Superbugs are but one of the concerns in healthcare settings. Today, there is a drive to measurably improve healthcare services through the implementation of quality improvement programs. As we outline in our article “Quality Improvement Programs: Hurdles to Optimizing Care,” several models are being employed to achieve better care. However, change can be challenging, so we underscore what missteps can occur along the way and what essential elements are necessary for improvement by staff at all levels in the healthcare system.

The spread of emerging diseases continues to plague the world. The most recent in the headlines is Zika virus, which WHO has declared a public health emergency. Stemming from a few outbreaks in Brazil and French Polynesia, Zika now threatens the world with outbreaks in more than 75 nations. Our “Update on Zika Virus” article discusses some of the latest research that sheds light on the cause and spread of the virus, as well as what is needed to fight it — from better diagnostic tools, to antiviral drugs and vaccines.

On the homefront, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is becoming more prevalent each year. While dealing with this neurodevelopmental disorder is challenging enough for these children and their families during youth, how to prepare them for adulthood can be even more troublesome. As we explain in our article “Autism: Preparing for Aging Out of the System,” children who have received assistance during their youth are more likely to make the transition more smoothly. Even so, many programs available to youth are no longer available to those who have “aged out” of the system. Fortunately, two organizations, Autism Speaks and the Autism Society, provide extensive resources, and help at the federal level in terms of supplemental income and insurance is available for these adults.

In the operating room, patient safety is of the utmost import. The critical need to control bleeding during and after surgery has been a concern for decades. For certain surgeries, scientists have discovered the product best suited for achieving hemostasis — fibrin-based biological adhesives — comes from the human body. Now, as the demand for fibrin sealants continues to increase, there are four U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved products available.

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

Patrick M. Schmidt

Publisher