New Joint Commission Monograph Aims to Decrease CLABSIs
The Joint Commission, in collaboration with Joint Commission Resources (JCR) and Joint Commission International (JCI), has developed a new monograph containing the most current information, evidence-based guidance and resources to help health care organizations reduce the current risks and resulting harm associated with CLABSI. The monograph was produced in partnership with infection prevention leaders from the Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Association for Vascular Access (AVA), and the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC).
InterSystems Launches Next Generation of HealthShare
InterSystems Corporation, a global leader in software for connected care, has launched the next generation of its InterSystems HealthShare™ strategic informatics platform for interoperability and active analytics. Designed originally for public health information exchanges (HIEs) at regional, state and national levels, HealthShare has been extended and rearchitected to also deliver the advanced technologies needed by integrated delivery networks (IDNs).
Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute Deploys Patient Safety Technologies from KARL STORZ Endoscopy America, LiveData
LiveData has announced that the company’s advanced patient safety platform, OR-Dashboard, has been deployed into production at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. The installation, which went ‘live’ early in May in all five of Saint Luke’s cardiac operating rooms, integrates information from critical clinical processes in the OR, enhancing overall workflow and focus on patient-centered care.
Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center to Standardize Communications on PerfectServe
Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center, a 218-bed hospital in Fountain Valley, Calif., and member of MemorialCare Health System, recently selected PerfectServe’s intelligent clinical communication platform to streamline and standardize secure communications between physicians and nursing, pharmacy and ancillary teams.
FCC Dedicates Spectrum to Enable Medical Body Area Networks
The Federal Communications Commission has advanced its wireless health care agenda by adopting rules that will enable Medical Body Area Networks (MBANs), low-power wideband
networks consisting of multiple body-worn sensors that transmit a variety of patient data to a control device. MBAN devices free patients from cumbersome cables that tether them to their hospital bed. MBANs provide a cost effective way to monitor every patient in a healthcare institution, so clinicians can provide real-time and accurate data, allowing them to intervene and save lives.
Study Shows Web-Based Self-Management Program Reduces High Blood Pressure
A recent study conducted by the Center for Connected Health demonstrated that a web-based self-management program helped patients with hypertension achieve significantly lower blood pressure by the conclusion of the program. Blood Pressure Connect enables patients to easily collect their blood pressure readings, monitor trends and securely share their personal data with their providers using a home blood pressure cuff and web portal.
TELUS Health and Orange Provide Remote Monitoring Solutions to Patients with Chronic Diseases
TELUS Health and Orange have joined forces to develop innovative remote monitoring solutions for patients with chronic diseases. The Calydial solution, a pilot that remotely monitored patients with kidney disease, in collaboration with Grenoble University Hospital, Calydial dialysis centers of Lyon, France and AGDUC health centre in Grenoble, France, yielded positive results; patient satisfaction and patient support both improved. On May 23, the Calydial solution was awarded the Innovation Prize in the telemedicine category at Health IT, France’s preeminent information technology trade show for hospitals and other medical establishments.
Christiana Care Health System Involved in Universal Gown and Gloving Study
Christiana Care Health System‘s health care workers are participating in a major study to determine if wearing gowns and gloves for all patient care in one unit will reduce health care-acquired infections. Christiana Care is one of only 20 academic medical centers nationwide participating in the Benefits of Universal Gown and Gloving, a $5.7 million study supported by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Joint Commission.
Engaging Patients and Families in Root Cause Analysis of Sentinel Healthcare Events: The Story of Justin Micalizzi
Working with two patient advocates, the Reliability Center has released a webcast that analyzes the sudden, unexpected death in January 2001 of 11-year-old Justin Micalizzi immediately following surgery for an infected ankle. For 10 years, the Micalizzi family—especially his mother, Dale, now a well known patient safety advocate—sought unsuccessfully and without the cooperation of the hospital to discover what caused Justin’s death or at least to elicit a clear and honest pledge that the hospital would commit sincerely to understanding what had happened.