Sharps Injuries: How Technology Can Reduce One of Healthcare’s Most Under-Reported Issues
Needlestick injuries, which fit into the broader category of sharps injuries, can harm healthcare workers by exposing them to blood and other hazardous materials, including infections from hepatitis C, hepatitis B, and HIV, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A Systems Approach to Person-Centered Healthcare: Lessons From End of Life
Much like the Institute of Medicine’s seminal report, To Err Is Human, which catalyzed healthcare around a systems approach to reducing preventable harm, the NQF report highlights actionable opportunities to scale efforts that have demonstrated the ability to improve quality, value, and safety.
Study: Better Controls, Not Testing, Crucial to Worker Safety During Pandemic
Certain areas of the country are experiencing an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, while other areas, including the Northeast, have been enjoying a lull in their positive case numbers. However, as colder weather sets in and the population is driven inside, the number of cases is expected to rise as indoor face-to-face interactions increase.
Coronavirus: Nursing Home Study Finds Alarming Shortages of Staff and PPE
Through July, nearly half of the country’s COVID-19 deaths had occurred in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities, with 60,000 deaths. The virus also has taken a heavy toll on long-term care healthcare workers, with 760 deaths through July.
Six Tests for Physician Leadership
The consolidation trend will demand strong leadership from physicians at the helm of these evolving models—as well as physician employees who want to drive their practice toward best practices for navigating future challenges.
How Augmented Intelligence and NLP Can Help Researchers Identify Rare Diseases
Sometimes critical information is overlooked, and a rare disease is not diagnosed until all other more common diagnoses have been ruled out. Unfortunately, a late diagnosis can make a substantial—even life-or-death—difference in a patient’s outcome.
Wear a Mask. If Only It Were That Simple.
After analyzing comprehensive data on mask policies, researchers led by Chris Adolph, a professor of political science and statistics, found that having a Republican governor would predict a 30-day delay in recommending mask policies. In a state that is also ideologically conservative, the delay would be closer to 40 days. A state’s death rate or infection rate had a much weaker influence.
5 AMA Resources to Promote Physician Wellbeing
Research published in September 2018 indicated that nearly half of physicians nationwide were experiencing burnout symptoms. Now, the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced new burdens on physicians, including high mortality among coronavirus patients, and worry over contracting the virus and infecting family members.
HHS Releases Update on Ryuk Ransomware Threat
One health system that was recently attacked was Universal Health Services, Inc. UHS had to temporarily shut down user access to IT applications due to a malware cyberattack last weekend. BleepingComputer has reported the attack was done by the Ryuk ransomware, but UHS has not yet confirmed the source of the attack.
HFAP: Problems Continue With Physical Environment, IC, Quality
In late August, the oldest of the accrediting organizations released its 2020 HFAP Quality Review, highlighting the problems and trends identified by surveyors during on-site visits in 2019 at acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals, laboratories, and ambulatory surgery centers.