I'm the coordinator of Device Safety in Nursing2008 and a cardiovascular nurse-consultant at the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health. I want to let your readers know that they can view free videos about ways to improve the safety of drugs, devices, vaccines, and diagnostic products through FDA Patient Safety News, a monthly television news program for health care professionals. Many of these videos reinforce Device Safety articles about device malfunctions and safety tips. Some topics we've covered include:

* "Prevent dangerous hemodialysis catheter disconnections"

* "Danger: Beware of unretrieved device fragments"

* "Cables and electrodes can burn patients during MRI"

* "On guard for intra-aortic balloon pump problems"

* "Luer-lock misconnects can be deadly."*

Video footage and demonstrations can be especially useful when you want to provide staff-development programs or teach students, particularly about identifying counterfeit products, illustrating how medical errors occur, depicting recalled products, and demonstrating how to mitigate risks when using medical products. The FDA Patient Safety News isn't copyrighted or restricted in any way. We encourage the further use and distribution of the video or text of the program by anyone-either in its entirety or as individual articles. You can sign up to be notified about each month's program and view or download videos at http://www.fda.gov/psn.

BEVERLY GALLAURESI, RN, BS, MPH

Rockville, Md.

^*Individual subscribers can also access these articles free online at http://www.nursing2008.com. [Context Link]