Bureaucracy is apparently not pro-life

[brynndragon]

First, learn how an incredibly simple piece of organizational tech (so simple I hesitate to use the word "tech") means ICU staff spend less money to save more lives: The Checklist

Then, learn how the government decided we certainly can't let something this useful continue: A Lifesaving Checklist

Look, I'm a huge fan of ethics in research. I wish examining ethical issues with scientific research was a requirement for all science undergrads. But holding this research to the exact same standards as experimental drugs is a terrible mistake. We do need to be hella careful when dealing with the sickest of the sick, but you can take it too far and it looks like OHRP has. How many people will die of preventable infections before they figure out the standards this sort of research will require to satisfy Confucius' bastard child, bureaucracy?

Comments

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

I was pretty sure a goodly portion of ICU admissions were the result of trauma - certainly the first article mentions several gunshot-wound patients at Sinai-Grace as well as the Austrian girl, and I don't know if the limo driver would've ended up in the ICU if his surgery hadn't gone pear-shaped and given his behavior they wouldn't've gotten permission for, well, much of anything at the time he got there (so no prevention of that line infection for him). That's assuming getting permission is as easy as getting a form signed - I'm pretty sure there's more to it than that (like keeping track of the forms and making sure you do use checklists for signers and don't for non-signers).

But now I find myself thinking that in this case the protocol of ethics is getting in the way of actual ethics (particularly the doctor's creed of "do no harm"). Plus if it happens that trauma ICU patients tend more often to be minorities while non-trauma ICU patients tend to be white. . . things could get *really* messy, especially if it's as effective as it seems to be.

[c1.livejournal.com]

I was pretty sure a goodly portion of ICU admissions were the result of trauma

Actually, consider the people who've had major surgery-- it's typical to spend some time in an ICU post-op. So, trauma, coronary bypass grafts, organ transplants...

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's true. Do you have any idea what the relative portions of major surgery to trauma patients there would be? Or does that vary too widely to even guess?