Patient care under threat as overworked doctors miss vital signs, expert warns Sir Richard Thompson says frontline staff are looking after so many patients they can miss signs that affect chances of survival. Care of hospital patients is under threat because overworked frontline doctors are looking after so many sick people that they are missing vital signs of illness that could affect chances of survival, one of Britains most senior doctors warns today. Hospital doctors are running around like a scalded cat trying to look after up to 70 elderly patients at a time, far more than the maximum of 20 regarded as necessary to ensure they receive proper attention, the president of the Royal College of Physicians, Sir Richard Thompson, told the Guardian. Doctors specialising in acute medicine are so stretched they are not able to spend the ideal minimum of 15 minutes investigating each patients symptoms because they have too many patients to get round in a typical seven-hour shift, he added. theguardian/society/2014/apr/04/patient-care-under-threat-overworked-doctors-miss-signs-expert
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 08:46:18 +0000