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Health data groups urge Senate to adopt unique patient identifiers
Scott E. Rupp Healthcare AdministrationHealthcare lobbyists made their way back into the limelight recently when several major groups took to the U.S. Senate to speak passionately about removing the two-decade-old ban on unique national patient identifiers. These health information management leaders told members of Congress that the use of federal funds to adopt such a nationwide identifier would allow collaboration between the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the private sector. Additionally, the groups assert that this federal funding is crucial for identification solutions that may reduce medical errors and protect patient privacy.
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5 ways to attract millennial patients to your healthcare organization
Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare AdministrationAs a healthcare professional, you understand that millennials are seeking traditional healthcare less frequently than previous generations — but do you really understand why? Researchers have been making fascinating inroads when it comes to determining how millennials really approach their healthcare. Understand the way they think and how they want to be served and you'll be able to attract them to your practice and/or hospital. Use these science-based strategies to make it happen.
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Study: Surgical gowns remain contaminated with C. difficile after disinfectant
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareClostridium difficile infects 500,000 Americans and kills 29,000 each year. Commonly affecting older adults in hospitals and long-term care facilities, symptoms of infection include diarrhea, fever, rapid heartbeat, inflammation of the intestines, and kidney failure. C. difficile spores are resistant to many commonly used disinfectants, sanitizers, and cleaning agents, including alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Surgical gowns and stainless steel often remain contaminated with C. difficile even after treatment with a recommended disinfectant. According to Dr. Tina Joshi of the University of Plymouth in England, because the spores can grow after decontamination, disinfecting measures in hospitals need to be reconsidered.
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Podcast: The state of medical education and physicians’ relationships…
Keith Carlson Medical & Allied HealthcareOn this episode of The Nurse Keith Show, Keith Carlson discusses the state of medical education and physicians’ interface with nurses with guest Dr. Ted O’Connell, a family physician, educator, author, innovator, speaker, and founding director of the Family Medicine Residency Program at Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano. He founded the Kaiser Permanente Napa-Solano Community Medicine and Global Health Fellowship, the first fellowship in the United States to formally combine both community medicine and global health.
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Anticipatory grief: Break on through to the other side
Lisa Cole Medical & Allied HealthcareI received news about a friend recently — his seizures have now collided into a diagnosis of glioblastoma. A strong and steady man, trustworthy through and through, reliable, and ever-so-devoted is suddenly facing a life-limiting illness. His life has forever changed; and, so has ours. While grief will have its way with us, through feeling, caring and with gratitude, we can "break on through to the other side." Most often we focus on all that our people must deal with when tragedy strikes. Yet, those of us who care about this person find that, with such news, the very nature of our relationship is impacted as well.
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Study: Beauty products send a child to the ED every 2 hours
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareFrom 2006 through 2016, emergency departments treated 64,686 children younger than 5 years old for injuries related to personal care products, according to the results of a new study. That works out to about one child every two hours. Many consumers are already aware of the dangers posed by cleaning products, batteries and household poisons, but are often unaware of the hazards posed by personal care products. The results of this study shed light on the special threat common cosmetics may pose to small children.
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Why cultural-fit hiring is the enemy of diversity
Simma Lieberman Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementA study by Cubix International of 55 organizations, including Ikea, found that 9 out of 10 recruiters passed over applicants that were not a "cultural fit." Hiring for "cultural fit" has become somewhat of a trend and buzzword. It usually applies to values, visions, norms and the way a company does business. Some people have told me that hiring for "cultural fit," as opposed to just skills, is a way of ensuring that the new hire gets along with everyone and be a "team player." I’ve also been told that it is a way of increasing diversity since you’re not just hiring based on degrees and grades. But what if this is part-fallacy?
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Device could extend organ viability to 24 hours or more
Chelsea Adams Medical & Allied HealthcareKeeping donated organs viable poses a significant challenge for physicians. While a pancreas or liver may last 12 hours, a heart or lungs must be transplanted within six hours. Otherwise, the organ dies. Researchers have studied this problem for years but have not created a more effective way to preserve and transport organs than a basic insulated cooler. However, a team of researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio have created a device that could potentially extend organs' shelf life between 24 hours and a full week.
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3 ways to say no
Catherine Iste Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementNo is such a powerful word, and yet few of us seem to know how to use it. We gracefully accept additional work, commitments and obligations, then spend our energy either trying to improve our time management to fit it all in or stressing about the fact that we will never have enough time to do it all. Instead of focusing our efforts on getting it all done, here are three ways to say no and save our energy.
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Knowing when our timing is off in healthcare
Lisa Cole Medical & Allied HealthcareAs healthcare providers, we know all too well that when the timing is off, people can suffer. Asynchronous heart rhythms, unchecked cellular growth and medication mistakes all can lead to death. Less tragically, blood sugar spikes and dips, sleep anomalies, and bowel disturbances can make folks miserable. "Sequencing affects outcome," my dear deceased friend would often quote me from the yoga sutras. So it is with each of us emotionally. Consider all the "could ofs, should ofs, might ofs, if onlys" of our lives.
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