Poor Patient Data Signals an Alarm in Healthcare Safety
While many of the above factors are monitored by medical boards, state and federal certification organizations, and even patients on social media, patient safety also is heavily tied to the quality of data used to make clinical decisions—an important but well-hidden variable. And the quality of patient data largely depends on how accurately patients are identified. Poorly identified patients are one of the main causes of safety issues in healthcare.
Partnership Successful at Weaning Patients Off Ventilators
Ventilator-dependent patients are medically complex and often have multiple morbidities. Providing care for these patients is costly, and they have extended lengths of stay compared to many hospitalized patients. In a partnership with Boca Raton, Florida-based Special Care Unit, Tampa General Hospital operates a Progressive Care Unit to wean patients off ventilators.
Follow 7 Principles for Disease and Risk Factor Screening in Emergency Departments
There is a tremendous opportunity to conduct screening in emergency departments. Research has shown that about half of U.S. adults over age 35 have not received screening for common health risk factors such as tobacco use and depression. The new journal article, which was published by Annals of Emergency Medicine, identifies seven principles for conducting disease and health risk screening in emergency departments.
Can Tattoos Accurately Measure Blood Pressure?
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have created an electronic tattoo that can be worn on the wrist comfortably for hours while providing accurate, continuous blood pressure measurements.
Cutting Through the Noise Among Digital Health Solutions
Digital health technology has become a huge market—and an overwhelming one. With all of the new options to bring patients online through portals, apps, and other touchpoints, it’s easy for health systems to be overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. This may be contributing to the dissatisfaction healthcare leaders report with their digital health strategy, at least according to the Hospital Digital Health Technology Report: 2022 from Panda Health.
Misinformation Can Be Catastrophic for Cardiovascular Patients
There is a lot of medical information and education on cardiovascular disease, particularly on the internet. But with that comes the problem of misinformation. Finding trustworthy information can be challenging, and relying upon wrong information can have health ramifications. Just because something is on the internet does not mean it’s medically true.
Eliminating Care Gaps and Boosting Personalization: The Product Innovation Approach to RPM and RTM
Remote patient monitoring (RPM) and remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) have the potential to greatly reduce physicians’ reliance on patient memory—and launch an era of highly personalized care, better treatment adherence, and better health outcomes.
30 Years Solo: Advice From a Doctor on Staying Independent
My practice—despite tightening reimbursement prices and wild economic times—is doing quite well. Here are some tips I’ve learned over the years, all of which are founded on a simple philosophy: Caring for patients and providing good service is the primary goal. Happy, healthy patients are the financial lifeblood of any independent provider.
Leapfrog Makes Recommendations to Reduce Diagnostic Errors at Hospitals
Leapfrog, which is a nonprofit organization founded in 2000 to promote patient safety, identified 300 potential practices that hospitals could adopt to reduce diagnostic errors. The potential practices were pared down to a list of 29 recommended practices in two categories— Organizational Leadership & Systems and the Diagnostic Process. There are 16 recommendations in the Organizational Leadership & Systems category and 13 recommendations in the Diagnostic Process category.
CMS Strengthens Guidance on EMTALA and Emergency Abortions
The reminder comes more than two weeks after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide. The memo also includes a note that hospitals and physicians may face civil financial penalty for denying patients emergency care.