Since the publication of the Institute of Medicine’s report, To Err is Human, accumulating data have shown that patient safety systems are slowly improving.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have identified a means of detecting thyroidectomy patients who can safely be discharged early after surgery, with little risk of developing significant hypocalcemia.
What patient wouldn’t want three or four very small incisions that heal rapidly with little or no scarring and no residual numbness, compared with a foot-long slice at or under the hairline that takes longer to heal and sometimes leaves a puffed-up scar and/or permanent loss of sensation?
The internal nasal valve region is responsible for more than two-thirds of the airflow resistance produced by the nose and represents the most constricted point of the upper airway.
Payers are convinced that compensating physicians and hospitals for meeting quality targets, also known as “pay for performance” (P4P), is an important step in bridging the quality chasm identified by the Institute of Medicine in 1999.
Percutaneous dilation tracheotomy (PDT) is becoming an accepted and increasingly popular alternative to surgical, or open, tracheotomy, particularly in the treatment of critically ill patients requiring prolonged intubation and mechanical ventilation.
After a hiatus associated with a checkered past, gene therapy is again showing promise in several fields of medicine, and otolaryngology is no exception.
Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) begins with a pretty small virus, relatively speaking, but it can lead to some pretty big problems for both the patient and the treating physician.