How Patient Safety Will Evolve in a Post-COVID-19 World
While this pandemic was unprecedented in our modern history of care, we must face the truth that we will confront other epidemics or health crises in our lifetimes, so we cannot ignore the lessons of the past year. In the future, having local stockpiles of PPE, monitors, and other medical supplies on demand will be essential to avoid repeating the struggle we faced during this pandemic. There is also a need for quickly scalable critical care solutions, as sourcing and configuring pieces of high-demand medical equipment when a surge hits is not efficient.
Advancing Safety and Care With Electronic Hand Hygiene Solutions
Unlike COVID-19, this issue has a relatively simple solution: Automated hand hygiene monitoring devices hardwire best practices in staff, increase compliance with hospital policies, and mitigate the risks associated with healthcare-associated infections.
TJC Seeks Input on New Requirements for Workplace Violence Prevention, Resuscitative Services
Long-discussed and first announced last fall, the new and revised requirements on workplace violence prevention are in the Environment of Care, Human Resources, and Leadership standard chapters.
Coronavirus Vaccination: 4 Best Practices for Communicating With Patients
With the COVID-19 pandemic raging across the country, vaccination is a key implement in the public health toolbox. Vaccination is widely viewed as essential to controlling the coronavirus through herd immunity, which occurs when a large proportion of a population develops resistance to an infection.
Use Screening Protocols to Ensure Civil Unrest Stays Out of Your Hospital
Recently, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) updated its Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) site with a four-page set of lessons learned in Minneapolis during the civil unrest after George Floyd died during a police arrest, an event caught on video and widely shared on social media.
Telehealth Usage Rises With Increase of COVID-19 Cases
Compared to one year ago, October usage of telehealth increased by 3,060%, comprising 5.61% of all “claim lines” processed by the payers the organization tracks, compared to 0.18% the previous October. In September 2020, telehealth comprised 5.07% of all claim lines. FAIR Health defines claim lines as an individual service or procedure listed on an insurance claim.
CMS Home-Based Hospital Care Waiver Called ‘Enormous Step Forward’
In November, CMS announced the creation of the Acute Hospital Care At Home program during the coronavirus public health emergency to help health systems and hospital increase care capacity during the pandemic. Six healthcare organizations were designated as the first participants in the Acute Hospital Care At Home program, including Boston-based Brigham Health.
Mindfulness Program Decreases Burnout in Healthcare Workers, Study Finds
Burnout is one of the top challenges facing clinicians and other healthcare workers nationwide. In a report published in September 2020 by The Physicians Foundation, 30% of more than 2,300 physicians surveyed cited feelings of hopelessness or having no purpose due to changes in their practices related to the coronavirus pandemic. Research published in September 2018 indicates that nearly half of physicians across the country were experiencing burnout symptoms.
Children’s Hospitals Are Partly to Blame as Superbugs Increasingly Attack Kids
A study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases in January found that 1 in 4 children given antibiotics in U.S. children’s hospitals are prescribed the drugs inappropriately — the wrong types, or for too long, or when they’re not necessary. Dr. Jason Newland, a pediatrics professor at Washington University in St. Louis who co-authored the study, said that’s likely an underestimate because the research involved 32 children’s hospitals already working together on proper antibiotic use. Newland said the nation’s 250-plus children’s hospitals need to do better.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 19 – Providing Behavioral Health Services During a Pandemic
On episode 19 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dr. Nishi Rawat, senior vice president, Appriss Health and co-founder of Openbeds, talks about the impact the pandemic has had on behavioral healthcare services.