(as of May 2006)
Silent Killer
Every year at least 98,000 Americans are killed – and countless more are injured – as a result of medical errors. This program begins by profiling the efforts of Sorrel King, whose 18-month-old daughter died at Johns Hopkins Hospital, one of the most respected health care facilities in the world. King has gone from grieving victim to engaged activist, partnering with Johns Hopkins to make safety a top priority at the institution. Now she has joined forces with Dr. Donald Berwick, a nationally recognized patient safety advocate, to save 100,000 lives in American hospitals.
First Do No Harm
This program focuses on efforts to address medication errors and infections in two hospitals and follows physicians who are challenging their colleagues to live up to their oath to First Do No Harm. In Pittsburgh, Chief of Medicine Dr. Richard Shannon is confronting an epidemic of hospital-acquired infections that are shattering the lives of their victims. In New Jersey, Hackensack University Medical Center is engaged in an effort to transform the way the institution delivers care through the use of cutting-edge information technology. The goal of both efforts is to ensure that the people trusted to provide safe and effective medical treatment do not harm patients.
The Stealth Epidemic
Chronic diseases like diabetes and congestive heart failure affect nearly 100 million Americans, and treatment of these illnesses consumes nearly 70 percent of all health care resources. Yet doctors are often unable to prevent needless suffering or even death, and their failures are threatening the viability of our entire health care system. This program looks at initiatives in two very different communities: Los Angeles and rural Whatcom County in the state of Washington. These groundbreaking efforts are fundamentally transforming the physician-patient relationship and offer a glimmer of hope for those across the country who are struggling with their chronic conditions.
Hand in Hand
As medicine continues to become more and more technologically sophisticated, and the systems that deliver medical care become increasingly complex, the relationship between providers, patients and families is more important than ever. This final program tells the story of patients and families who have formed a unique bond in a teaching hospital in Augusta, Georgia, transforming the institution into a nationally recognized facility where partnership is a guiding vision to the care it delivers.
