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The US may be discarding thousands of viable kidneys each year
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareOrgan transplant professionals make tough decisions when it comes to deciding which organs are suitable for transplant and which organs should be discarded. Due to stringent guidelines, clinicians in the United States must discard about 2,000 donated kidneys each year. There are currently more than 95,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list, according to UNOS; reclaiming some of the discarded kidneys has the potential to save lives. The results of a new study show that many of the kidneys transplanted in France would have been discarded in the United States. This study is the first of its kind.
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Should everyone be taking a statin? Results of an umbrella review
Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied HealthcareStatins are relatively inexpensive and do not have many downsides; the most common complaint is myalgia, which is experienced by about 10 percent of patients. In addition to reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, statins have been linked to benefits for other diseases and conditions, such as chronic pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, some cancers, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and infections. So, why shouldn’t everyone be on a statin? The answer is because after a review of statins and multiple non-cardiovascular outcomes, the jury is still out.
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‘Waterfall’ shifts improve flow of patients in the emergency…
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareShift change can be a dangerous time for emergency department (ED) patients. This is especially true for pediatric patients in busy EDs. Now, there is evidence that a new approach using "waterfall" shifts can improve the flow of patients through a pediatric ED. Officials at Seattle Children’s Hospital created overlapping shifts for ED physicians five years ago, and it dramatically reduced patient handoffs. Researchers analyzed 43,835 patient encounters. They discovered a 25 percent reduction in the proportion of patient encounters ending in patient handoffs immediately after implementation of the new shifts.
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How to improve your patient disclosure practices
Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied HealthcareAs a physician, you know that communicating the right information to disclose to your patients at the proper time is critical. Not only does doing so properly cut down on confusion for your patients, it can also reduce informed consent claims against your hospital or practice. Yet many doctors don't provide their patients with enough information when it comes to crucial safety and risk factors regarding treatment. So how do you determine the difference between providing useful knowledge versus giving out unhelpful information?
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Health IT receiving much-needed attention from the government
Tammy Hinojos Medical & Allied HealthcareTechnological advances are by definition supposed to advance that portion of an industry they exist to serve. To make things easier, more intuitive, less burdensome. But all too often, it seems, just the opposite is true. Healthcare providers know all about the hurdles associated with electronic health records (EHRs). The cumbersome system — one that should be designed to streamline the information-gathering process — is broken, in the opinion of many American healthcare providers.
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Inadequate workplace benefits cause employees to jump ship
Terri Williams Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementEmployee benefits might be more important than you think. Smart companies are using them to attract and retain talent, and employees indicate that they prefer workplace benefits over a salary increase. A report by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) reveals that by a margin of 4 to 1, American workers favor workplace benefits over an increase in salary. So, why are benefits so important to employees, and which benefits do employees want?
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New benefits to incorporating a nurse practitioner for your practice
Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied HealthcareNurse practitioners are a boon for both patient outcomes and administrative progress. They can relieve a physician's workload and provide patients more extensive care in terms of both time and information. Interested in incorporating a nurse practitioner into your office? Consider the following research to understand the advantages further.
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Study identifies top areas of concern for healthcare IT executives
Scott E. Rupp Medical & Allied HealthcareThe Center for Connected Medicine partnered with the Health Management Academy for a survey featuring responses from executives of leading health systems on their health information technology priorities. It explores five advanced health information technologies set to impact healthcare, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, consumer-facing technology, predictive analytics and virtual care. The research examines implementation, impacts and challenges in each of these areas and explores anomalies.
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Putting the care back in healthcare
Keith Carlson Healthcare AdministrationWith the exponential increase of technology in the delivery of healthcare, we run the risk of dehumanizing healthcare in the interest of expediency and cost containment. At the same time, nurses in hospitals face untenable nurse-patient ratios, and even in milieus like home health and hospice we also feel the crunch of delivering as much care as possible in as little time as we can. Where will these trends take us and how can we put the notion of care back into healthcare?
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5 tips to get repeat client visits
Heidi Dawson Sports & FitnessA big problem for new therapists, those starting out on their own, or those starting back up after a break can be getting repeat bookings. People are busy and there are lots of therapists out there, so how do you keep them coming back to you? When I was first starting as a therapist, just after graduating, I missed a few tricks that I now know are key to getting clients to keep coming back. Here are my top tips that almost always guarantee a client comes back again.
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