Feature Channels: Patient Safety

• share
• favorite_border

AACC has issued a new guidance document detailing best practices that hospitals and other healthcare institutions should follow when running a point-of-care testing program. As point-of-care tests emerge for more and more conditions—including COVID-19—the guidance emphasizes that it is essential for laboratory professionals and clinicians to collaborate on point-of-care testing programs to ensure this testing benefits patients.

• share
• favorite_border

As outpatient centers, clinics and practices gradually resume seeing patients, they look a bit different in response to COVID-19. In addition to keeping patients and staff safe, these changes are also helping make health care more convenient and accessible.

• share
• favorite_border

Despite improvements in their performance over the past decade, electronic health records (EHRs) commonly used in hospitals nationwide fail to detect up to one in three potentially harmful drug interactions and other medication errors, according to scientists at University of Utah Health, Harvard University, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

During COVID-19, UC San Diego Health expanded telehealth to provide patients with safe and convenient access to appointments with their health care providers. Video visits expanded by more than 50-fold.

• share
• favorite_border

Despite facing challenges such as limited access to PPE during the COVID-19 outbreak, radiation oncology clinics quickly implemented safety enhancements that allowed them to continue caring for cancer patients, according to a new national survey from the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). All 222 physician leaders in the survey collected April 16-30 said their practices continued to provide radiation therapy, yet 85% also reported declines in patient visits, and by an average of one-third.

• share
• favorite_border

Clinicians and researchers from the University of Michigan have published two proof-of-concept papers on new negative pressure environment devices that protect health care workers while treating patients with COVID-19.

• share
• favorite_border

Rush University Medical Center, one of the nation's most highly rated hospitals for quality and safety, has taken a series of innovative measures that strategically balance patient needs with science and safety as it resumes normal operations.

• share
• favorite_border

LOS ANGELES COUNTY: Six of Los Angeles County’s largest nonprofit health systems with hospitals, clinics and care facilities across the region have come together united in a mission to encourage community members to put health first and access care when needed.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Health care teams are working to comfort and treat patients with the novel coronavirus COVID-19 including helping them breathe and providing nutritional support. Registered dietitian nutritionists are an integral part of the health care team managing the nutrition and hydration needs of patients.

• share
• favorite_border

AMP has submitted a formal response in support of the Citizen Petition from Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, P.C. on behalf of the Coalition to Preserve Access to Pharmacogenomics (PGx) Information. The response builds on AMP’s PGx Best Practices Statement and includes a series of recommendations that will rectify recent FDA actions, which have suppressed important patient safety information.

• share
• favorite_border

The aim of this study was to determine if implementing an evidence-based, nurse-driven sepsis protocol would reduce acute care transfer (ACT) readmissions from an inpatient rehabilitation facility compared to nonprotocolized or usual standard of care for adult sepsis patients undergoing physical rehabilitation.

• share
• favorite_border

Newswise Live Expert Panel for April 30, 2020: New tech from engineers, assessing the recession

• share
• favorite_border

Seven Mayo Clinic hospitals scored high marks for safety — earning an "A" for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group, an independent, national nonprofit run by employers and other large purchasers of health benefits.

• share
• favorite_border

UC San Diego Health has been awarded double ‘A’ grades for the spring 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade.

• share
• favorite_border

Barbara A. Masser, MD, Medical Director at BIDMC urgent care centers in Chelsea and Chestnut Hill, offers advice to help you make the right decision when your care can't wait.

• share
• favorite_border

Interscalene blocks are a type of regional anesthesia used to relieve pain during and after shoulder surgery. This procedure can lead to numbing of the phrenic nerve as well, however, which can lead to pulmonary complications. Researchers at Stanford University are experimenting with different amounts of saline that can help reverse the phrenic nerve blockade while still maintaining analgesic effect.

• share
• favorite_border

Hemidiaphragmatic paresis, or HDP, is a condition in which one side of the diaphragm is weakened, resulting in shortness of breath and reduced respiratory function. It can occur when a patient is given regional anesthesia for shoulder surgery, using the supraclavicular nerve block. Researchers are trying to determine the right amount of anesthesia to use in the supraclavicular block so that the block still works but the chances of developing HDP are low.

• share
• favorite_border

With shelter in place restrictions across the nation, social distancing may be the best option to protect your health. But not acknowledging the dangers in your home can bring risk for a fall injury. The AAOS reminds people to be mindful of their surroundings in their homes in effort to maintain optimal bone and joint health.

• share
• favorite_border

NCCN Best Practices Committee publishes peer-reviewed feature in JNCCN presenting latest insights on how to keep oncology patients and healthcare workers safe during COVID-19 pandemic. Visit NCCN.org/covid-19 for continually-updated resources for patients, providers, and care systems.

• share
• favorite_border

COVID-19 presents evolving challenges to health care, in part because it is a new viral disease. People do not have natural immunity and a vaccine hasn't yet been developed.Patients with heart disease are at increased risk of cardiac-related complications and death, and are more likely to develop severe complications from COVID-19.

• share
• favorite_border

By repurposing badges originally designed to locate nurses and other hospital staff, Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they can precisely monitor how patients in the hospital are walking outside of their rooms, a well-known indicator and contributor to recovery after surgery.

• share
• favorite_border

As the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) continues to collaborate with the Administration, Congress and other officials on ways physician anesthesiologists can help treat patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, ASA President Mary Dale Peterson, M.D., MSHCA, FACHE, FASA, sent a communication to the White House commending the Administration for its work to date and formalizing key ASA recommendations to address top health concerns. In the communication, Dr. Peterson urges the Administration to continue to prioritize actions to expand access to personal protective equipment (PPE), to provide robust economic relief to physician anesthesiologists’ practices and to increase access to ventilators which include anesthesia gas machine ventilators, while considering expanding access to critical care providers.

• share
• favorite_border

Newswise Live Expert Panel discussion of unique angles to the COVID-19 outbreak of interest to the public and the media, including public health, testing, business and financial markets, 2020 elections, and more.

• share
• favorite_border

In response to the growing number of COVID-19 cases in California, Keck Medicine of USC is taking several new measures to combat the virus.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) and the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) today announced recommendations for facilities in areas with growing rates of COVID-19 to reduce non-urgent surgical, diagnostic, and interventional procedures.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak and the rising number of cases in California, Keck Medicine of USC has taken precautions to protect staff and patients and reduce the spread of the disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Mount Sinai research highlights the need for more hearing checks among groups at high risk for falls

• share
• favorite_border

Parkinson’s disease takes a lot from its victims.Patients often notice its onset as a tremor in one of their hands. As it progresses, it can impair balance, change speech patterns, alter thinking and dramatically affect movement.There is no cure, but there are ways to improve symptoms.

• share
• favorite_border

A team of engineers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, led by Suvranu De, the head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, is developing a virtual reality-based training device that can help train medical professionals to perform endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty procedures. The device, known as a ViBE — or Virtual Bariatric Endoscopic — simulator is being supported by a grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

• share
• favorite_border

In honor of Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 8-14, 2020), Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) want patients to know that nurse anesthetists are not only patient safety practitioners, they are patient safety experts. CRNAs plan and implement every step of the anesthesia process with patients’ safety and well-being in mind.

• share
• favorite_border

The American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA) has compiled resources to help Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) develop strategic steps for managing patients with expected or confirmed infection of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

• share
• favorite_border

Value in Health, the official journal of ISPOR—the professional society for health economics and outcomes research, announced today the publication of new research showing mixed clinical results of an electronic medical record-embedded clinical decision support system for opioid prescribing.

• share
• favorite_border

Seeking to improve patient's experiences in the hospital, Cedars-Sinai has introduced a new feedback tool that will allow patients to comment on their hospital stays in real time rather than waiting to complete surveys after going home. Under a program that began in January, patients can evaluate their experiences through a platform designed in conjunction with Feedtrail, a healthcare technology company.

• share
• favorite_border

"For those who have faced exploitation and discrimination at the hands of physicians, the medical profession, and medical institutions, trust is a tall order and, in many cases, would be naïve," writes Laura Specker Sullivan in "Trust, Risk, and Race in American Medicine."

• share
• favorite_border

UT Physicians, HCPC, Memorial Hermann, LBJ Hospital earn age-friendly recognition

• share
• favorite_border

Sepsis causes nearly 270,000 deaths in the United States each year. Find out how big data approaches are helping clinicians catch it sooner, treat it better, and help survivors cope with long-term effects.

• share
• favorite_border

More than half of all cancer patients undergo radiation therapy and the dose is critical. Too much and the surrounding tissue gets damaged, too little and the cancer cells survive.

• share
• favorite_border

A study from UAB published in JAMA Surgery on Feb. 12 indicates that use of surgical jackets and head covers known as bouffants in operating rooms does not reduce the incidence of surgical site infections.

• share
• favorite_border

The ATS Foundation Research Program has announced that 17 researchers have been awarded one-year $40,000 Unrestricted Research Grants to advance pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine.

• share
• favorite_border

Emergency Medicine and Trauma Surgery researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) are joining the Nashville Fire Department and nearly two dozen emergency medical service agencies across the country in a Department of Defense (DOD)-funded clinical trial aimed at improving survival with breathing techniques used to keep patients alive at the scene of a trauma.

• share
• favorite_border

Six months after discharge, smartphone users were 32 percent more likely to continue sending health data to researchers than those using wearables

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Rush University Medical Center and Rush Oak Park Hospital again earned high marks in one of the nation’s most respected assessments of health care quality. Both hospitals received five-star ratings, the highest possible, from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Rush Copley Medical Center received four stars from CMS

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have developed color-changing bandages that can sense drug-resistant and drug-sensitive bacteria in wounds and treat them accordingly.

• share
• favorite_border

While transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) continues to expand its pool of eligible patients, open heart surgery—resulting in excellent patient survival and fewer strokes when compared to TAVR—is the best option for young and middle-aged adults with aortic valve disease—at least for now.

• share
• favorite_border

Patients who undergo open heart surgery and head home 3 days later are not at increased risk for complications.

• share
• favorite_border

Every day nearly 200 people die from an overdose of drugs or from alcohol poisoning, with opioids responsible for the majority. Recognizing the signs and knowing how to respond to medical emergencies, including carrying and administering naloxone in cases of opioid overdose, can save lives says the ASA.