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What’s your office’s air pollution level?

Lisa Mulcahy Facilities & Grounds

You probably figure you don't need to worry about air pollution unless you're sitting in traffic. Think again — the way you go about daily tasks in your office can actually create unhealthy levels of harmful air, putting you and your team at risk for respiratory diseases and other health issues. What can you do to stop the problem?

Pew report: Provider demand for accurate patient matching is high

Scott E. Rupp Healthcare Administration

The Pew Charitable Trusts is concerned with the ability to accurately match patients to their health records. According to healthcare providers surveyed, match rates are "far below the desired level for effective data exchange," said researchers at Pew, which collaborated with eHealth Collaborative on the report. Patient matching is the comparing of data from different health IT systems to verify if data sources match and belong to the same patient. Matching data completes the patient’s health history and medical care record. If data matches, that patient’s records are combined to eliminate duplication and confusion.

Newly approved device to help increase access to suitable lungs for transplant

Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied Healthcare

On April 26, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new device that may increase access to more lungs for transplant. The new Xvivo Perfusion System (XPS) is a type of ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) therapy, which can temporarily ventilate and pump preservation solution through lungs. The process can increase the percentage of lung transplants by allowing transplant teams to identify better quality lung grafts that would have been otherwise rejected for transplantation in the past.

Randstad Sourceright discusses healthcare’s tightening talent market

Terri Williams Healthcare Administration

First, the good news: life expectancies are rising, 10,000 baby boomers are retiring every day (which provides jobs for other workers and gives boomers an opportunity to enjoy their golden years), and the life sciences and healthcare sector is projected to grow by 5.4% annually, outpacing global GDP. Now, the bad news: According to Randstad Sourceright's 2019 Talent Trends survey, 85% of human capital and C-suite leaders in the life sciences and healthcare sector say talent scarcity is one of their greatest concerns.

Patriarchy and healthcare: A dying zeitgeist

Keith Carlson Medical & Allied Healthcare

Since time immemorial, men have dominated medicine. Nurses were historically viewed as subservient laborers who followed orders and carried no sense of personal or professional agency; in that same vein, female physicians were less numerous and not readily recognized for their contributions by their male peers. In many aspects of our lives, this paradigm is shifting for the better, and that same change is also underway in the healthcare sphere.

The time to have fun is when you have no time

Anne Rose Business Management, Services & Risk Management

We live in a fast-paced world, no doubt about it. We are constantly rushing here and there for appointments, for work, for shopping, for school, for church, or for sports obligations. There’s no time for anything because your schedule is packed with things you must do, not necessarily what you want to do. But these obligations are generally man-made. They are the product of our own demands and self-expectations, where busyness is frequently valued more highly than productivity. Not only do we adults get caught up in this endless cycle of busyness, I’ve witnessed it in the children they parent as well.

Study: Only 1.5% of those at high risk of opioid overdose receive a prescription…

Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied Healthcare

The vast majority of people who are at high risk of opioid overdose are not prescribed the naloxone they may one day need to save their lives, according to the results of a new study published in JAMA. In fact, the researchers found that only about 1.5% of high-risk patients receive such a prescription, despite multiple opportunities. Sarah Follman and associates from the University of Chicago performed a retrospective study in which they analyzed data from the Truven Health MarketScan Research Database.

5 surprising ways to decrease risk in your operating rooms

Lisa Mulcahy Healthcare Administration

Operating room safety is a major, ongoing priority for your medical facility — and you no doubt practice scrupulous technique when it comes to monitoring procedures and equipment. Research shows, though, that employing unexpected personnel strategies can also be a highly effective way to cut risks and improve surgical outcomes in both the long and short term. Try these science-driven tips to improve your OR environments.

Mefloquine: A personal perspective

Roy Phillips Law Enforcement, Defense & Security

If you’ve deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, especially in the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, you were probably prescribed mefloquine. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the drug, it is an anti-malarial with some odd and obvious side effects. The drug, a white pill, was to be ingested every Monday morning for the duration of the deployment, followed by a two-week-long daily dose of primaquine. Earlier this year, the VA established a committee to study the long-term effects of mefloquine toxicity.

New study shows compelling case for link between autism, antidepressant…

Dorothy L. Tengler Medical & Allied Healthcare

Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder. Although many causes have been proposed, the cause is still questionable and ultimately unknown. However, a recent study shows a potential link between autistic-like behavior in adult mice and exposure to a common antidepressant in the womb. One of the most commonly prescribed antidepressants is fluoxetine (Prozac), a serotonin reuptake inhibitor. The researchers investigated adult mice born to mothers treated with fluoxetine over a 15-day time period, which corresponds to the second trimester in humans, compared with those born to mothers given normal saline.

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