In spring 2012, a surgeon tried to electronically access a patient’s radiology study in the operating room but the computer would show only a blue screen. The patient’s time under anesthesia was extended while OR staff struggled to get the display to function properly.

That is just one example of 171 health information technology-related problems reported during a nine-week period to the ECRI Institute PSO, a patient safety organization in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., that works with health systems and hospital associations in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and elsewhere to analyze and prevent adverse events.

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The country is deep in winter, but attention again is returning to that summertime phenomenon dubbed “the July effect.” That’s the name given to a supposed spike in medical mistakes and poor patient outcomes at teaching hospitals during the seventh month of the year, when newly minted MDs start providing care.

Numerous studies have reached conflicting conclusions about the extent of the July effect and whether it even exists. A massive study of spinal surgery outcomes published Jan. 29 online further complicates the picture, finding that patients going under the knife at teaching hospitals in July largely fare just as well as their counterparts during the rest of the year but do slightly worse on a couple of metrics.

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Outpatient physician practices can play a key part in ensuring that patients have safe transitions in care and avoid preventable hospital readmissions, according to an American Medical Association report released in February.

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Achieving superior clinical outcomes often depends less on physicians making the right diagnosis and recommending the correct treatment and more on their patients’ willingness to take the necessary steps to maintain or improve their health.

Heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes together kill more than 1 million Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And it is patient choices — to give up smoking, shed pounds, exercise and faithfully take prescribed medications — that are essential to making a meaningful dent in that deadly toll.

But despite their best attempts to educate, inform, cajole or bargain with patients, physicians often find themselves tossing up their hands in despair at patients’ failure to change their harmful health habits. “It’s a source of great frustration,” says Yul Ejnes, MD, a general internist in private practice in Cranston, R.I.

Doctors have long hoped that developing a rapport with patients would help their messages finally sink in and prompt change. Now a growing body of evidence suggests that alternative ways of communicating with patients — ones that involve fewer instructions and more questions — can help physicians motivate at-risk patients to make smarter choices regarding their health.

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The gift restrictions adopted in medical schools and residency programs are linked to less prescribing of brand-name drugs, said two recently published studies that appear to be the first attempts to gauge the clinical practice impact of efforts within medicine to rein in pharma’s influence.

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Patients understand that sometimes physicians need help in making a diagnosis, but more evidence suggests that they are less comfortable when that advice comes from a computer.

Previous research has found that the use of clinical decision support seems to turn off patients, who grade doctors seeking such computer assistance about 10% lower than physicians who make a diagnosis without electronic aid. Findings published in January demonstrate that it is not merely doctors’ asking for outside help that it is troublesome, but something about the computer interaction that is turning them off. The results are especially surprising, because the research was conducted among college-age students who grew up with technology.

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During the winter holidays, a patient at Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut had a large pressure ulcer with an abscess. A surgical intern made a note in the patient’s electronic health record that said, “Patient needs drainage, may need OR.”

The problem? The same note appeared for several consecutive days, even after a surgical team successfully drained the abscess. The intern had copied and pasted the previous day’s note, but failed to appropriately update it to reflect the fact that the drainage was done. The note confused the consulting infectious disease team and nearly led to an unneeded change in the patient’s antibiotic regimen.

General internist Leora Horwitz, MD, was serving as attending physician and clarified the electronic record.

“I knew [the note] was rubbish,” she said.

The practice of carelessly copying and pasting previous information, often dubbed “sloppy and paste,” is on the decline at Yale-New Haven Hospital but is widespread across medicine and can lead to mix-ups that sometimes harm patients, research shows.

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More evidence is emerging to show that tamper-resistant formulations of extended-release analgesic opioids are improving public health by discouraging abuse.

The results should provide some reassurance to physicians concerned about the potential misuse of opioids by their patients, say doctors who specialize in pain treatment and addiction medicine.

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