Partnership Successful at Weaning Patients Off Ventilators
Ventilator-dependent patients are medically complex and often have multiple morbidities. Providing care for these patients is costly, and they have extended lengths of stay compared to many hospitalized patients. In a partnership with Boca Raton, Florida-based Special Care Unit, Tampa General Hospital operates a Progressive Care Unit to wean patients off ventilators.
Follow 7 Principles for Disease and Risk Factor Screening in Emergency Departments
There is a tremendous opportunity to conduct screening in emergency departments. Research has shown that about half of U.S. adults over age 35 have not received screening for common health risk factors such as tobacco use and depression. The new journal article, which was published by Annals of Emergency Medicine, identifies seven principles for conducting disease and health risk screening in emergency departments.
Why Virtual Simulation is Beneficial to Nursing Students
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and nursing students were unable to do in-person clinicals in hospitals, Wayne State University College of Nursing in Detroit, like other nursing schools, had to rely on simulation to provide students with the education they needed. And although nursing students are returning to in-person clinical rotations, simulation labs remain in important part of their education.
Can Tattoos Accurately Measure Blood Pressure?
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have created an electronic tattoo that can be worn on the wrist comfortably for hours while providing accurate, continuous blood pressure measurements.
UC Davis Offers Free Online Course to Help Clinicians Prevent Firearm Injuries
The course explains how to have conversations with patients who have access to firearms and may be at risk of interpersonal violence, unintentional injury, or suicide, or unintentional injury, according to UC Davis. It also teaches clinicians how to intervene based on the type and level of risk of firearm violence.
Rural Hospitals Use New Technology to Efficiently Manage Beds and Transfers
At Rice County District Hospital in Lyons, Kansas, staff are using patient placement technology to coordinate care for both patients inside the 25-bed, level 4 hospital, and those needing to be transferred to another facility. The platform integrates local EMS and other transport services, such as helicopters and planes, with health systems hundreds of miles away who have the specialists necessary to treat a critically injured patient.
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Supports 26 New Studies
The $258 million in funding was announced by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The institute also announced an additional $3.9 million for two projects to promote wider and faster clinical adoption of useful findings from completed PCORI clinical effectiveness research (CER) studies.
Leapfrog Makes Recommendations to Reduce Diagnostic Errors at Hospitals
Leapfrog, which is a nonprofit organization founded in 2000 to promote patient safety, identified 300 potential practices that hospitals could adopt to reduce diagnostic errors. The potential practices were pared down to a list of 29 recommended practices in two categories— Organizational Leadership & Systems and the Diagnostic Process. There are 16 recommendations in the Organizational Leadership & Systems category and 13 recommendations in the Diagnostic Process category.
Using Technology to Improve Observation Rates and Drive Appropriate Admissions
The suburban Philadelphia healthcare network, centered around an independent 270-bed hospital, is using predictive analytics technology from XSOLIS to improve medical utilization management. In the first six months of use, officials say they’ve improved observation rates by 20% and observation to inpatient conversion rates by 37%. And three years later, the initial return on investment of 4.6x has now improved to 7.3x.
AMA Survey Cites Patient Concerns With Data Security
Almost 75% of those surveyed are concerned about protecting the privacy of personal health data. Only 20% of patients said they know how many companies and individuals have access to their data. The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling over abortion rights is heightening these concerns, the AMA says, since a lack of data privacy may put patients and physicians in legal jeopardy where states are restricting reproductive health services.