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Study shows link between opioid prescription and later use, abuse by young…
Tammy Hinojos Oral & Dental HealthcareThe abuse of opioids is a public health crisis in the United States. Dentists continue to be a leading source of opioid prescriptions for children and adolescents aged 10 to 19 years, primarily due to third molar extractions (wisdom teeth). Young people who develop opioid abuse problems may be first exposed to the drug while receiving dental treatment. This, according to a new study released earlier this month by JAMA Internal Medicine.
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Help your doctors get more rest on duty
Lisa Mulcahy Medical & Allied HealthcareSleep deprivation: it's a fact of life for both practicing physicians and residents alike. As a hospital administrator, you know this, but there's no doubt you wish you could help your doctors get a least a little more shuteye. You're in luck: cutting-edge research has identified strategies that physicians can use to rest more efficiently while performing their duties during shifts or prior to procedures. Help your doctors by employing the following science-based tips.
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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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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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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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Study: Evening stress may be worse than morning stress
Dorothy L. Tengler Mental HealthcareThe Decade of the Brain, as proclaimed by President George H.W. Bush for the 1990s, has come and gone. But many mysteries remain, and President Barack Obama launched his own brain research program in 2013 — The Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. The fact that the brain inspired such a call to action is not surprising in view of the many mysteries still to be revealed.
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The pharmacist salary debate goes on
Jason Poquette PharmaceuticalWhen the famous John D. Rockefeller was asked, "How much money is enough?" he reportedly replied, "Just a little bit more." I have yet to meet someone who felt he was overpaid for his work. Underpaid? For sure. Overpaid? Never. We are all, typically, very good at identifying "others" whom we think are paid too much. Rare is the person willing to question her or his own salary and wonder if they are overpaid.
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Online patient reviews of EDs and urgent care centers inform care delivery
Lynn Hetzler Medical & Allied HealthcareThe internet has changed how consumers experience healthcare. People now search the internet for information on a particular health problem they may be having, for example. In fact, 6 in 10 people said they turned to the internet for health problems within the previous year, according to a 2013 survey by Pew Research Center. Consumers are increasingly using online rating programs to rate and review hospitals. In a new study, published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, researchers describe and compare the content and ratings of online reviews of urgent care centers and emergency departments (EDs).
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