Shared Decision-Making Comes Into Its Own

Providers, payers, and pharmaceutical manufacturers consequently must consider and incorporate shared decision-making opportunities and mechanisms when developing therapeutic pathways, differentiated treatment options, and reimbursement strategies.

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Addressing the Challenge of IV Dislodgement

IV dislodgements happen on a daily basis, so common that everyone in the hospital environment is aware of them. Whether it’s a caregiver tripping over tubing or a patient rolling over in their sleep, these incidents are understandable. But because they’re so universal, IV dislodgements cost the U.S. healthcare system as much as $2 billion annually.

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Six Strategies to Reduce Patient Discharge and Care Transition Risk

Four in 10 hospitals have struggled to appropriately discharge patients due to staffing shortages. Moreover, 86% of hospitals say COVID-19 has made it harder to secure placement for discharged patients. With the lack of postacute care staffing, health systems are under pressure to extend the length of hospital stays—making the cost of care dramatically more expensive.

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Rethinking Medical Data Analysis

The pandemic has rendered many established healthcare processes and workflows inefficient. To fix the inefficiencies rapidly, many providers have had to speed up their digital transformation efforts by as much as 74%. The changes have powered a meaningful shift in the role of analytics in healthcare.

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Skin Tears Can be Problematic, but Preventable With the Right Care

Fragile skin of the elderly may be more susceptible to tearing depending on medication, comorbidities, and other factors, but care providers can take steps to manage skin tears and implement prevention strategies. A 2020 study published in the Journal of Wound Care found a skin tear prevalence of 20.8% among 380 long-term care residents, and an incidence of 18.9% within four weeks.

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How to Provide Quality Care in High-Risk Pregnancies

A national study of women aged 18 to 44 showed that complicated pregnancies are growing more prevalent in the United States—they rose by 16.4% from 2014 to 2018. The same study, which looked at 1.8 million pregnancies, revealed that childbirth complications increased by about 14% from 2014 to 2018.

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How AI Can Empower More Comprehensive Maternal Care

The study, “AI Estimation of Gestational Age from Blind Ultrasound Sweeps in Low-Resource Settings,” funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and published in March in NEJM Evidence, demonstrates how AI technology can empower nurse midwives to perform ultrasound scans at the level of trained sonographers.

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3D Molds Enable New Standard of Care for Surgery

3D printing technology in healthcare has allowed fabrication of perfect replicas of patients’ organs based on their imaging. But those models could only serve as visual aids since no existing 3D-printing polymer could replicate the mechanical properties of human tissue.

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Missed Messages

A lot has changed in healthcare since 2011, yet miscommunication is still the norm among clinicians. In its 2021 State of Healthcare Communication report, TigerConnect, a provider of collaborative communication tools, found that 35% of the more than 750 surveyed clinical and administrative respondents reported communication disconnects daily or multiple times a week.

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