International Graduates Will Help Fill the Gap With U.S. Physician Shortages
With the U.S. healthcare system already feeling the effects of the shortage, some estimates say that the country needs 14,000 new doctors to enter the workforce in order to rid the country of primary care shortages in rural and urban environments.
Q&A: Adventist Health Attempts to Transform Patient Safety With Organizationwide Changes
Dr. Hoda Asmar is senior vice president and chief clinical officer for Roseville, California–based Adventist Health, a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 75 communities in California, Hawaii, and Oregon.
Improving Language Access for Limited-English-Proficient, Deaf, and Hard-of-Hearing Patients
Several hospital systems and long-term care facilities across the country have started to implement electronic interpreter systems, called video remote interpreting devices, in their health centers.
Digging Into the Patient Safety Risks From Hospital Mergers
The study’s authors found that after system expansions, healthcare institutions may experience significant changes in patient populations, including increases in general volume and in patients with demographic characteristics or conditions that a given facility might not have previously served.
How Healthcare Artwork Can Strengthen Connections Between Patients, Providers, and Community
As art becomes more central to the healing experience, it’s important to get designers and artists involved early in renovations and new construction projects to create works that meet facilities’ varied needs.
Why the 2018 FGI Guidelines Account for ‘Patients of Size’ and How Your Facility Can, Too
The Guidelines now focus on safe handling for “patients of size,” a switch in terminology away from bariatrics that’s meant to account for not only a patient’s weight, but also height and distribution of weight throughout the body.
Harris Health System vs. Hurricane Harvey
More than 400 employees from Harris Health had homes significantly damaged or destroyed in the flood. With so many workers impacted by the floodwaters, response and recovery after the storm meant helping staff members as well.
Q&A: Photos and Wristbands for Patient Identification
Austin F. Mount-Campbell, PhD, is a patient safety fellow at the Center for Medical Product End-user Testing in the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. He’s done previous studies on the efficacy of patient ID wristbands and patient handoffs.
How ‘Smarter’ Smartphones Help Hospitals Safeguard Patients
Both patient safety and quality care depend on providing accurate, meaningful information to the right person at the right time. Today, smartphone platforms and apps not only facilitate timely handoffs—a cornerstone of patient safety—but also integrate with hospital system software to provide clinicians with data from EHRs, biomedical devices, and hospital pharmacies and laboratories.
The Importance of Bringing a Nursing and Clinical Perspective to Facility Design
After adverse event investigation sessions, actions and processes are developed and put into place to help prevent recurrence. That’s why those who were involved in the event—generally frontline caregivers—should always play a role in the original design process as well as the resolution process. Doing so could prevent events not just from recurring, but from ever occurring at all.