Patient Apps Help Families Communicate With Caregivers
The pandemic has made communication between care teams and families particularly challenging, leading hospitals to seek new ways to reach out to loved ones who often can’t be by a patient’s side—or even in the waiting room—during a surgery. Having a means to communicate securely beyond the hospital walls, whether the receiving family member is waiting in their car outside the facility or at home across the country, is essential for reducing anxiety, increasing understanding, and creating a better healthcare experience.
PSQH: The Podcast Episode 18 – Using Lean Management to Improve IV Therapy
On episode 18 of PSQH: The Podcast, host Jay Kumar talks to Lee Steere of Hartford Hospital about how the hospital transformed its infusion therapy practices.
ECRI Provides Lessons Learned on COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout
The vaccines are extremely sensitive to temperature. In addition, they will come in multi-dose vials that must be diluted and then slowly mixed by inverting the bottle back and forth, according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Q&A: The Need for Better Training for IV Insertions
A collaboration announced in October 2020 between the Association for Vascular Access (AVA) and B. Braun Medical Inc. seeks to improve clinician training on the placement of PIVCs. Together, the organizations will develop and provide a series of online courses free of charge to schools of medicine, nursing, respiratory therapy, and other allied health professionals—the first of which is being currently piloted at several leading nursing schools.
Designing Successful Medication Reconciliation Programs
When deciding on where to place med rec resources, start by looking at where most of your admissions come from. For many hospitals, admissions largely come from planned surgical procedures or the Emergency Department, so these are prime areas in which to consider having a med rec team collect medication histories.
NIOSH Says FFRs with Exhalation Valves Just as Effective at Control of Disease Sources
NIOSH confirmed that approved FFRs like N95 respirators protect the wearer, filtering particle penetration to less than 5%. The report, “Filtering Facepiece Respirators with an Exhalation Valve: Measurements of Filtration Efficiency to Evaluate Their Potential for Source Control” (NIOSH Publication No. 2021-107), also confirmed that an FFR with an exhalation valve provided the same source control as commonly used measures like surgical masks, procedure masks, and cloth face coverings.
Hospitals Scramble to Prioritize Which Workers Are First for COVID Shots
Even as the federal Food and Drug Administration engaged in intense deliberations ahead of Friday’s authorization of the Pfizer and BioNTech COVID vaccine, and days before the initial 6.4 million doses were to be released, hospitals across the country have been grappling with how to distribute the first scarce shots.
EVS Training and Certification are Essential to Healthcare’s Mission
By: Hagan Kappler Modern healthcare is based on two important principles originally ascribed to Hippocrates: help the sick and abstain from doing harm. Physicians are sworn to these ideals. Nurses and others in healthcare promise the same. These goals are certainly true for Environmental Services directors and staff. They serve on the frontline of infection … Continued
Discuss Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccinations Carefully
May an employer covered by the ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 compel all of its employees to take the influenza vaccine regardless of their medical conditions or their religious beliefs during a pandemic? Quick answer: No.
Dr. Fauci Addresses Vaccination Rollout, Masking Challenges, At-Home Testing
As the FDA reviews the emergency use authorization requests from both Pfizer and Moderna for their respective potential vaccines, Fauci urged the public to trust the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.