A recent report issued by Manhattan Research found that 64% of doctors are using smartphones - iPhones, Blackberrys, Treos or other hand-held devices which provide wireless Internet access and mobile applications. This percentage is more than double what it was just eight years ago. Physicians are using smart phones to access drug and clinical references as well as utilize tools such as dosage calculators.
Industry leaders envision a future of technology-driven healthcare with smartphones as an integral component. "Primarily, the work flow you are going to enter into as a provider at the point of care, in front of the patient, will be done on a device like the iPhone. [A] desktop, laptop, keyboard is pretty much not going to work if you want to do things quickly and do things at the point of care," said Tom Giannulli, MD in an interview on amednews.com. Giannulli is an internist in California who developed the first stand-alone Electronic Medical Record for the iPhone which launched in September 2008. To read more about how mobile technology is being used in healthcare, continue here.
Photo Credit: Christopher Chan
Interventional radiologists and oncologists utilize non-invasive approaches for disease screening, detection and treatment. Patient demand for a non-invasive approach is increasing and doctors who perform these procedures are also doing more patient follow up. The increased procedure load and higher level of patient contact present both challenges and opportunities for nurses working in interventional radiology.
Since IR is performed at a number of levels, each nursing opportunity is unique. In some facilities, nurses are responsible for patient intake and monitoring during procedures and in the recovery room. At a full-service IR facility, a nurse could be more involved and may assist with procedures including ablation and chemoembolization. Catch up with some nurses working in the field
here.
Photo Credit:
Today is a good day
A nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has come up with a creative way to remind staff to practice proper hand hygiene. "Cal Stat Rap," written and produced by Pauline M. Albrecht, RN, BSN, demonstrates the correct use of the hospital's Cal Stat Sanitizers. The rap is just one component of MGH's hand hygiene campaign. Currently the facility's overall hand hygiene compliance is at 90%. You can watch the video on the player below. To read more about MGH's hand hygiene campaign, click here.
The Joint Commission is urging healthcare leaders to take steps to promote high quality, safe healthcare. They are also encouraging healthcare organizations to apply lessons learned in high-risk industries including aviation, energy and manufacturing. In a Sentinel Event Alert issued in late August, the commission wrote: "Inadequate leadership was a contributing factor in 50 percent of the sentinel events reported to the Joint Commission in 2006."
To promote an increased focus on safety, the Joint Commission has suggested 14 specific steps:
- Define and establish an organization-wide safety culture.
- Institute an organization-wide policy of transparency that sheds light on all adverse events and patient safety issues.
- Make the organization's overall safety performance a key, measurable part of the evaluation of the CEO and all leadership.
- Ensure that caregivers involved in adverse events receive attention that is just, respectful, compassionate, supportive and timely.
- Create and communicate a policy that defines behaviors that are to be referred for disciplinary action.
- Regularly monitor and analyze adverse events and close calls quantitatively and communicate findings and recommendations.
- Regularly hold open discussions with all relevant personnel to develop a true, unvarnished view of the safety risks and barriers to safety facing patients and staff.
- Prioritize and address safety risks and barriers to safety according to a timeline, with the highest priority items getting immediate attention.
- Establish partnerships with physicians and align their incentives to improving safety and using evidence-based medicine.
- Add a human element and a sense of urgency to safety improvements by having patients communicate their experiences and perceptions.
- When planning and implementing safety improvements, use the expertise of front-line staff who understand the risks to patients and how processes really work.
- Regularly measure leadership's commitment to safety.
- When leaders assess managers during annual performance reviews, make sure they ask about the safety issues the manager encountered, how they were handled and the impact their actions had on reducing unsafe conditions.
- Communicate to staff when their work improves safety.
To read the entire Sentinel Event Alert, click here.
Photo Credit: Chrisinplymouth
You might know Twitter as a Web 2.0 application that makes more sense for personal use rather than business use. In a nutshell, Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that wants its users to answer the question: "What are you doing?" The service makes users (also known as Twitterers) keep their thoughts short and to the point - 140 characters or less. To learn more about Twitter, click here.
A number of companies (Zappos.com, Comcast, JetBlue and Whole Foods) and celebrities have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon. But you may wonder how it applies in the medical space. A recent report in Telemedicine and e-Health shared 10 medical uses for Twitter as recommended by a clinical nurse:
- Disaster alerting and response
- Diabetes management
- Drug safety alerts from the FDA
- Biomedical device data capture and reporting
- Shift bidding for nurses and other healthcare professionals
- Diagnostic brainstorming
- Rare disease tracking and resource connection
- Providing smoking cessation guidance
- Broadcasting infant care tips to new parents
- Post-discharge patient consultations and follow-up care
To read the full article, click here.
Most hospitals when faced with a medical error work with the affected patient's family through risk managers and attorneys. In contrast, the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago is taking a non-traditional approach when it comes to medical errors. The hospital's process has been in the making since 2004 when a consultation service was created to help staff communicate quickly with patients and families after incidents. In 2006, this service evolved into a policy of full disclosure, apology and offer of financial compensation. According to Chief Safety Officer Timothy McDonald, the number of lawsuits has dropped and financial payouts to patients have not increased. The program has also identified safety issues that have led to almost 200 hospital procedure improvements.
McDonald and cardiac anesthesiologist Dave Mayer are taking the message one step further by producing a series of patient safety videos. The main purpose of these videos is patient safety education for hospital staff. The creators also see value in using the videos to teach patients to take a more active role in their healthcare. To see a trailer for the first video: "The Faces of Medical Error: From Tears to Transparency," click here.
To read more about how the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago manages patient safety, continue here.
Photo Credit: Geek2Nurse
According to researchers, middle-aged men with traditional beliefs about masculinity are less likely to seek routine medical treatment. A recent study included 1,000 white, middle-aged men from Wisconsin who had completed high school. The men were given a survey which asked questions about their beliefs in masculinity and whether they had received recommended healthcare including annual physicals, prostate exams and flu shots. The research found that men with the strongest belief in masculinity were 50 percent less likely to get the recommended medical care than other men. To learn more about the study and see comments from the researchers, click here.
Photo Credit: MamaDianna
Almost 200,000 Americans die from preventable medical injuries each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 99,000 of these patient deaths are the result of hospital-acquired infections.
There is currently no mandatory nationwide reporting system for medical errors. The American Medical Association (AMA) and American Hospital Association have weighed in with the opinion that mandatory reporting would drive medical errors underground. However, AMA officials support voluntary reporting and the American Hospital Association is in favor of disclosing mistakes to families involved in specific incidents. Without a nationwide mandatory reporting system, states are on their own when it comes to collecting and reporting on data. This also puts patients at a loss when making critical healthcare decisions. To read the entire investigative report, click here.
To see how New Jersey is addressing medical errors, read this news brief.
Photo Credit: ☃
In order to empathize with patients, a healthcare provider needs to first communicate in order to understand the patient's circumstances. Empathy is defined as the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another. Read a case study of a 26-year-old patient diagnosed with testicular cancer and the decision the nurse treating him made and learn more about what it takes to be truly empathetic.
Photo Credit: Flatbush Gardener
Across the Internet patients are busy discussing medical procedures. PICC and port insertions, maintenance and removals are no exception. A few of the stories you might stumble upon include:
Imperfect Paradise - a blog chronicling a teenager living with Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome
Socks and Chocolate - a mom writing about her daughter who is having a PICC inserted to have IV antibiotics administered
Run Sickboy Run - follow the story of a 29 year old man with Cystic Fibrosis as he defies the odds and gets in the best shape of his life
Invasive Maneuvers - a husband chronicles is wife's battle with chronic ulcerative colitis
Sixty-Five Roses - meet Megan a 17 year old with Cystic Fibrosis who also describes her first PICC placed at age 6
My Life in Lynchburg - a student blogs about her clinical group learning how to start an IV
Adventures in Motherhood and Other Risky Endeavors - a woman showcases her husband's recently-placed PICC including photos
Photo Credit: Bull3t