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Editor's Picks
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Listening to patients' voices improves wheelchair technology
It's one of those ideas that make you wish you'd thought of it: The smart folks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston are working on a robotic wheelchair operated by voice commands. Even better? They're getting input from those who would use it, including 69-year-old David Hatch, who operates his current chair with a joystick but foresees a day when his multiple sclerosis will progress to the point where that is no longer possible. Too often in the history of wheelchairs and other assistive technologies, the equipment is designed by engineers or scientists, not by people dependent on it, MIT associate professor Nicholas Roy tells the Boston Globe. The industry is littered with ideas that did not work, he says. [Read More]
iPad, Cartoon Bear Seek to Ease Kids' Fears of Medicine
A cartoon bear named Buddy and a cartoon kid named Max are trying to assure patients that scary tests and treatments in the hospital aren't really so bad. And they're doing it all through the iPad. Max and Buddy the Bear's "Bear Facts About CT Scans" is an application being used by Walt Disney Pavilion at Florida Hospital for Children and St. Luke's Health System in Boise, ID. "Where I see the big use of this is in our patient education," says David Pate, president and CEO of St. Luke's. "So far, both the patients and the doctors just love it." [Read More]
FDA Calls for Reducing Infusion Pump Risks
Calling them a source of "persistent safety problems," The Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday that it will establish additional premarket requirements for external infusion pumps—including pumps used in all environments, such as hospitals, clinics, and at-home settings. In the past five years, the FDA has received more than 56,000 reports of adverse events caused by the pumps. Between 2005 and 2009, 87 infusion pump were recalled to address identified safety concerns, according to FDA data. [Read More]
Point-of-Care Tool Helps Clinicians Answer Questions, Make Decisions
Clinical decision-making tools should be available wherever clinical questions come up. That's the idea behind DynaMed, an evidence-based clinical reference tool that can help healthcare professionals answer the clinical questions they encounter in hospitals, medical schools, residency programs, and in their own practices. It contains timely, clinically organized summaries for more than 3,000 topics. The tool, which is updated daily, monitors hundreds of journals and evidence-review databases. [Read More]
Legislation Expands Scope of EHR Meaningful Use Eligibility
As President Obama signed new legislation expanding EHR meaningful use incentive eligibility to outpatient-based hospital physicians, Congress recently introduced a new bill that extends eligibility to additional hospitals. The need for additional clarifying legislation may speak to the lack of understanding on the part of Congress as to the implications of their initial language in ARRA, Margret Amatayakul, president of Margret\A Consulting, LLC, in Schaumburg, IL, tells HealthLeaders Media editor Andrea Kraynak. [Read More]
Time to Tell Your Leadership Team's Story
This Friday is the deadline to enter the seventh annual Top Leadership Teams in Healthcare Awards—a program that celebrates stories of great healthcare leadership in hospitals, health plans, and medical group practices. There are five categories: large hospitals and health systems (500 or more licensed beds); community and mid-sized hospitals (100 to 499 licensed beds); small hospitals (fewer than 100 licensed beds); health plans (state, regional, and national); and medical group practices (physician-owned, single- or multi-specialty groups employing 25 or more physicians). Winners will be announced nationally and profiled in an issue of HealthLeaders magazine. Last year's winners included Denver Health & Hospital, Grays Harbor Community Hospital in Aberdeen, WA, Cary Medical Center in Caribou, ME, NorthShore University Health System Medical Group in Evanston, IL, and Independent Health in Williamsville, NY. [Learn More]
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Tech Headlines
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AHA Leaders Told Help Is Coming for EHRs, Doc Fix Payments
Janice Simmons, for HealthLeaders Media - April 27, 2010
Cloud computing to double by 2012
BBC News - April 27, 2010
100 iPads set for deployment at California Hospital
Network World - April 27, 2009
Device aims to perfect diagnoses of ADHD
Boston Globe - April 27, 2010
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Webcasts
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May 13: Integrated Compensation Plans to Enhance Physician Performance
May 19: Five Proven Steps to Improve Patient Satisfaction Scores
June 2: Seamless Systems of Care: Better Alignment, Coordination, and Outcomes
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| From HealthLeaders Magazine |
Split Decisions
While reforms aim to encourage coordination, linking the care continuum will happen at the service line level. But first providers will have to change their relationships, and how they think about care delivery.
[Read More]
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Audio Features
Tech to Boost Satisfaction and Patient Flow: Are long wait times in the ER hurting the patient experience at your organization? Denice Soyring Higman, RN, president and founder of Soyring Consulting in St. Petersburg, FL, discusses how hospitals can dramatically boost patient satisfaction scores with simple patient flow changes and by using clinical data to improve efficiency and productivity in the ER. [Listen Now] |
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