Making Smart IV Pumps Smarter: Steps to Increase IV Infusion Safety
Despite their ubiquity, smart pumps continue to exhibit design flaws that contribute to patient safety risks. Commonly reported problems with smart pumps include software bugs and errors, human factors (e.g., errors related to user interface issues), broken components, battery failure, alarm failure, and over- or under-infusion.
Mass Vaccine Rollout Showcases Healthcare Agility
A multitude of providers responded to the new challenges of the pandemic with incredible nimbleness and delivered an array of successful patient outcomes. From treating COVID-19 patients, to setting up testing sites, to rolling out vaccinations, many private and public health entities displayed an unprecedented ability to plan, react, and change over accelerated timelines.
Need to Lower Overhead Costs? Try a Space Management Plan
Healthcare leaders are investigating options for reducing overhead costs. In addition, social distancing requirements for patient and staff safety are forcing hospitals to devise strategies on how to approach space use. In unprecedented times like these, healthcare organizations should consider space management strategies to reduce overhead costs.
Healthcare Facilities: LED Fixture Continuously Disinfects All Airborne Viruses
UVC is known to disinfect air, water, and nonporous surfaces and has been used for decades to reduce the spread of tuberculosis, influenza, and Legionnaires’ disease. According to the CDC, UVC is the only recognized technology for effective germicidal treatment against airborne pathogens.
Surging International Infections Underscore Need for At-Home COVID-19 Multiplex Testing Options
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) recently published World Health Statistics 2021 report offers a snapshot of today as well as a glimpse of the future. At the time of the report’s release, global COVID-19 cases stood at 160 million and deaths at 3.3 million, with newly confirmed cases at an all-time high globally.
Wrong Patient Identification Has Severe Consequences for Hospitals and Patients
Wrong patient identification, for a number of reasons, still exists to this day. It affects the U.S. healthcare system the most as hospitals have no effective standardized patient identifier shared by all facilities. While different caregivers have used various strategies to implement an effective patient identifier, it’s been around two decades since the ban on funding a national patient identifier system has been in place.
COVID-19 Long-Haulers: Neuroplasticity and Treating Chronic Illness
Some theories believe that it’s excess mass cell activation, or an allergy causing cells to react. Others posit the virus is hiding out in the brain or body, waiting for an opportunity to create further issues. Still others believe the condition reflects long-term damage to the lungs. Ashok Gupta hypothesizes that it is due to a conditioned response.
Ongoing Delayed Healthcare Increases Risk
In a nationwide study conducted by The Martec Group, many consumers reported feeling insecure about reengaging with U.S. healthcare systems. Concerns identified include misgivings about both in-person and telehealth care. The findings also draw a road map for healthcare providers looking to regain consumer trust and optimize capacity levels.
Connected Health Technology: The Foundation for Patient Safety in the Home
Many older adults’ main wish is to be able to live in their own home for as long as possible, but major safety issues have long been an understandable concern. In fact, every 19 minutes an older adult in the U.S. dies from a fall, and one in four U.S. adults will fall each year, according to data from the National Council for Aging Care. It’s no surprise, then, that falls are the leading cause of injury and death among elderly Americans.
Redesigning the Telehealth Experience
The index was designed to measure how rapidly COVID-19 has accelerated the trend of telehealth adoption across the country, and measures data from several million claim records from January 1, 2020, through January 25, 2021. However, it’s also now providing insight into how health systems and physician groups might create a more cohesive telehealth offering going forward.