Collaboration between providers, patients, payer helps reduce gaps. Health plan, hospital project focuses on Medicaid members. A collaborative effort between Keystone Mercy Health Plan and local hospitals to provide care coordination for Medicaid members is helping reduce health care gaps and emergency department and inpatient utilization.
Does "Auto-anticoagulation" Protect Against VTE in Patients with Liver Disease? Abstract & Commentary. By David J. Pierson, MD, Editor, Professor, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, is Editor for Critical Care Alert.
Oral Nutritional Intake Among Critically Ill Patients Is Grossly Deficient in the Week Following Extubation. Abstract & Commentary. By David J. Pierson, MD, Editor, Professor, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, is Editor for Critical Care Alert.
Hospital meets challenge of new IV medication delivery system technology. All averted errors captured by system. The big challenge for Women and Children's Hospital-Kaleida Health of Buffalo, NY, was using new IV medication delivery technology for patients that ranged from premature infants to geriatric adults.
Hospitals benefit in many ways when hiring medication safety officer. Avoided mistakes can save money. The role of medication safety officer in hospitals has grown over the past two decades, but the recent recession has caused a setback with hospitals cutting back on the position.
ED simulation made 'real' with use of actors. 'Patients' help staff prepare for move. As the ED staff at Valley Medical Center in Renton, WA, was preparing to move into its new "digs," emergency services manager Kayett Asuquo, RN, BSN, MBA, CES, recognized that it was important that they do more than just take a walking tour of the new facilities.
Pharmacist in ED yields good results. [Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series. Placing a pharmacist in the ED is not yet common practice, but the experiences of the University of Rochester Medical Center which began its program in 2000, indicate that more EDs should be considering such a strategy.
Beta blockers may mask symptoms in septic elders. Drug creates 'misleading picture' Do you expect to see tachycardia in a septic patient? "A large majority of elderly patients are on beta blockers, which can keep pulse at a normal rate even when the patient is septic," says John Provost, an ED nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Ph
Dangerous handoffs with elders must end. Information often inaccurate. There is no question that handoffs between long-term care facilities and EDs are high-risk times for elder patients. Patients from long-term care facilities are often fragile, and a clear, accurate report is essential, says Judy Maxwell, RN, an ED nurse at Cheyenne Medical Cente
Make a good first impression: It's critical. Improving patient satisfaction is "a high priority" for the patient access department at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, according to Michael F. Sciarabba, MPH, CHAM, the hospital's director of patient access services. "We believe strongly that we have an important role in transformi
Want to improve? Relying on patient satisfaction survey scores alone to drive your improvement efforts is probably a mistake, says Michael F. Sciarabba, MPH, CHAM, director of patient access services at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago.
Hospitals hiring more ED pharmacists. Model works well for all. Five or 10 years ago, few pharmacists would have been able to gain experience as an emergency department pharmacist, even if they had thought about that field as a specialty. There are increasing numbers of emergency pharmacy residency programs.
Patient flow takes on new importance with health care reform. Hospitals can't afford for patients to stay longer than necessary. As hospitals face cuts in reimbursement and patients who become insured under health care reform legislation seek care, moving patients safely and quickly through the continuum of care is going to become important, expert
ED nurses seeking protection from violence. OSHA standard needed, nurses say. "Two dead in Tennessee Hospital Shooting" New York Times, April 19, 2010. "Shooting Inside Danbury Hospital" Hartford Courant, March 3, 2010. "Gunman Opens Fire Inside North Carolina Hospital" Fox News, February 15, 2010. Violence erupts in emergency rooms across
Hand hygiene woes impact C. diff response. Hospitals, nursing homes will 'sink or swim' An epidemic of Clostridium difficile in the United States is killing some 12,000 patients annually, in part because neither alcohol hand rubs nor soap and water can effectively remove the spore-forming bacillus from hands, researchers are finding.
Pediatric patients are more than 'little adults' Social, clinical issues require different approach. Caring for a pediatric hospice patient requires more than just a knowledge of hospice care, says Sarah Friebert, MD, director of the Haslinger Family Pediatric Palliative Care Division at Akron Children's Hospital and consulting medical director to
Legal Review & Commentary. California Jury Awards $12M to Woman With Brain Injury From Air Rifle. News: A young woman presented to the emergency department of a hospital after being shot in the head with an air pellet rifle. Background:A 22-year-old female honors student studying to be a police officer presented at the ED of a local hospital after
Off-peak hours threaten patient safety, require more vigilance from RM. Research shows greater risk on nights, weekends. A risk manager would never want to sit down with a family and try to explain that their loved one was harmed because the patient was treated in the middle of the night or on a Saturday, when standards are lower and risks are high
ED nurses seeking protection from violence. OSHA standard needed, nurses say. "Two dead in Tennessee Hospital Shooting" - New York Times, April 19, 2010. "Shooting Inside Danbury Hospital" - Hartford Courant, March 3, 2010. "Gunman Opens Fire Inside North Carolina Hospital" - FoxNews, February 15, 2010. Violence erupts in emergency rooms across the
Make education a collaborative endeavor, including patients and staff. Family-centered care model erases lines. When Nick Masi, PhD, director of Family Centered Care at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital in Hollywood, FL, in 2002 began encouraging staff to obtain family input on health care issues, few saw the value of such teamwork.
A look at trends in outpatient surgery. By Stephen W. Earnhart, MS CEO Earnhart & Associates Austin, TX. Well, this is a fine mess all us health care providers are all getting into isn't it? It is so frustrating for everyone dealing with this uncertainty. It is time to consolidate as much work effort as possible at our facilities, be they hospital
Colorado Medicaid set to save millions on readmissions. Every year, Colorado Medicaid spends $20 million on hospital readmissions that occur within 30 days. "Not all of those readmissions are avoidable, but we think a pretty big percentage of them are," says Sandeep Wadhwa, MD, chief medical officer with the Colorado Department of Health Care Polic
