PSQH: The Podcast Episode 61 – Fighting the Rise of Antimicrobial Resistance
On episode 61 of PSQH: The Podcast, Dr. Anthony Senagore, senior medical director of PolyPid, talks about the trend of rising antimicrobial resistance.
Survey Time: Check Your Ice Machine Outlets, Brush Up on IC, Staff Safety
The Joint Commission (TJC) is still catching up on the surveys backlogged during the COVID-19 pandemic—but they are catching up. Be aware that you might soon be getting a notice that your survey is scheduled, although you still won’t be told an exact date because CMS requires the visits to be unannounced.
One PHE Declared as Another is On Its Way Out—Maybe
On August 4, two days after appointing a national monkeypox response team, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared the infectious disease a U.S. public health emergency (PHE). Cases are now being reported in all U.S. states and some territories.
Streamlining Mental Health Treatment
The nonprofit Mental Health America states that more than half of adults with a mental illness do not receive treatment, for a total of over 27 million adults in the U.S. In its 2022 State of Mental Health in America report, the organization found that 67% of adults with a mental illness in Hawaii, the bottom-ranked state, did not receive treatment.
Healthcare Cybersecurity Preparedness and Response
While finding ways to prevent a cyberattack is important, it’s safest to presume an attacker will penetrate your defenses. Some organizations are so focused on remediating all vulnerabilities and issues that they overlook the possibility of attackers finding a novel way of getting into their system. But by having a practiced response process and working with experienced disaster mitigation vendors, personnel at your organization can feel more confident, comfortable, and prepared.
Patient-Generated Health Data: The Key to Clinical Innovation
Clinical innovation is more patient-centric and data-rich than ever. The biomedical research and development industry almost universally agrees that aggregating and analyzing shared data is essential to the accuracy of clinical research, development, and care.
Medication Safety Recognition Program Designed to Improve Employee Engagement
Concord (New Hampshire) Hospital began its medication safety recognition program, which was introduced in 2016 and then revised in 2017, in the pharmacy department with the goals of improving the quality of medication errors reported, increasing the number of individuals who consistently reported medication errors, and increasing employee engagement.
Blood Clot Prevention: Who Needs to Wear an SCD and for How Long?
The CDC estimates that almost 1 million Americans suffer from venous thromboembolism (VTE), also known as blood clots. VTE is a term that is comprised of two medical conditions: deep vein thrombosis, which is a blood clot in one or more of the deep veins in the body (usually in the legs), and pulmonary embolism, which is a blood clot in a pulmonary artery in the lungs.
Solutions for a Broken Healthcare System
The cost of healthcare in the U.S. is remarkably high compared to other industrialized countries. There is no equity in access, and even when care is available, it is too varied. A list of reasons why our healthcare system could be considered broken would go on and on. Activist groups and healthcare professionals alike are calling for change, and while some solutions are being offered, we must develop a starting point if we intend any lasting change to occur.
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.