51% of Hospitals Looking To Boost mHealth Use Among Nurses
About half of nurses surveyed for a new Spyglass Consulting report say
their hospitals have begun to evaluate the use of enterprise-level
smartphone technology to replace outdated, less-secure communication
devices, such as pagers and nurse call systems. mHealthNews, MobiHealthNews. Read more
Nurse Education Level Affects Death Rates, Study Says
According
to a recently published study, that difference in particular has a
significant impact on patient death rates in European hospitals.
Results
of the Europe-wide study of hospitals and nurses, published in the
Lancet medical journal, highlighted two factors that correlated with
variations in patient mortality in surgical wards. One was the number of
patients per nurse. The other was the percentage of the nursing staff
educated at a university to bachelor’s degree level. Read more
ONC Open Source Software Tool Receives EHR Certification by GREG SLABODKIN
Free software that can import data, then calculate, display, and export
electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) is now certified as an
inpatient electronic health record module under the 2014 Edition of the
EHR meaningful use program. The software originally was developed in 2010 by the Office of the
National Coordinator for Health IT and available to the open source
community and others at http://projectpophealth.org. The latest version of popHealth can be downloaded, but the certified version is not yet posted online.
READ MORE »
READ MORE »
Patient Attitudes on Sharing Their PHI Patient Attitudes on Sharing Their PHI
A survey of self-selected respondents, most of whom track personal
health data via wearable devices, smartphones or Web sites, finds they
have strong interest in contributing and using the data for research.
Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Health Data
Exploration project at University of California San Diego conducted the
survey. UCSD recruited participants through postings on related Web
sites, press releases and social media channels including blogs and
Tweets. A new report offers interesting findings. READ MORE »
A Robot companion for the elderly - balancing autonomy and ethics
Robot companion for the elderly - balancing autonomy and ethics - Digital Agenda for Europe - European Commission ow.ly
The ACCOMPANY project has been developing a "social robot" based on a Care-o-bot platform
AHIMA Warns EHR Copy-and-Paste Functions Could Compromise Data
A new American Health Information
Management Association position statement cautions against copying and
pasting information within electronic health records. An HHS Office of
Inspector General audit released last year finds that the improper use of EHR copy-and-paste functions could lead to fraudulent billing and incorrect data in patient records. Health Data Management. Read More
Bedside Monitoring Device Reduces Hospital Stays, Study Finds
A new study by Harvard University Medical School researchers finds that a
bedside monitoring device can reduce the length of hospital stays and
rates of code blue events. The device continuously monitors a patient's
vital signs and movements. FierceHealthIT et al. Read More
ONC Announces Launch of Clinical Quality Framework Initiative
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has launched an
initiative that aims to develop integrated standards for clinical
decision support and electronic clinical quality measurement. The
initiative will build on ONC's Health eDecision project, which ends
March 27. Health Data Management et al. Read More
The Decline of the Doctor-Patient Relationship?
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The healthcare community has spoken, and they like what they see
The healthcare community has spoken, and they like what they see: Over 80% of patients using mobile virtual assistants find them helpful.
Medical health apps have
become an integral part of the American healthcare system. And mobile
virtual assistants are along for the ride, helping increase the ‘care’
side of healthcare. Read on...http://codebaby.com/blog/2014/03/12/mobile-virtual-assistants-increase-care-side-healthcare/
Health Apps have become an
integral part of the healthcare system. And mobile virtual assistants
are helping increase the ‘care’ side of healthcare.
Top 5 Digital Health Barriers
Top 5 digital health challenges | Government Health IT govhealthit.com
Digital health products and
services will play an important role in reducing cost and improving
population health and the patient experience. However, the development
and deployment of digital health products are still in the early phases
and there...
Don't
miss our latest newsletter! Advancing Health: News from the Campaign
for Action features the latest stories about how the Campaign and its
partners across the country are transforming health and health care
through nursing. Read it now.
Infographic: A New Approach to Shaping Health Behavior?
What
if we could choose from a range of personalized incentives to help us
get healthy? This infographic explains the "person-centered incentive," a
unique new approach to encouraging healthy behavior. http://rwjf.ws/1nDEyyY
ONC Launches New Clinical Quality Framework Initiative
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has launched a new initiative focused on "harmonizing the standards for clinical decision support and electronic clinical quality measurement," according to a March 20 blog by Doug Fridsma, M.D., ONC Director of the Office of Science and Technology. READ MORE »
Remote Medicine Tests Physician Licensing Rules
Demand for doctors – whether
in person or via a computer screen – is expected to surge as millions
more Americans become insured.
Pioneering a New Frontier in Patient Care with Telemedicine
Psychiatrist
Ken Hopper was recently interviewed by Microsoft in Health about his
telemedicine adoption. Dr. Hopper says telemedicine using Microsoft Lync
is revolutionizing his practice and is on the verge of revolutionizing
the way medicine is practiced across the U.S: http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Office-365/The-Hopper-Group/The-Hopper-Group-Pioneering-a-New-Frontier-in-Patient-Care/710000004103
The Hopper Group: Pioneering a
New Frontier in Patient Care As one of the leading experts on
behavioral health, psychiatrist Ken Hopper consults with corporations
and organizations throughout the U.S.; he also sees patients in his
private practice...
Michigan Health Council-Education to Practice Interprofessional Tool Kit
Education to
Practice, the Michigan Health Council's statewide initiative to promote
interprofessional education and collaborative care, has recently
launched their Interprofessional Tool Kit. Specific tools include common
language worksheets, huddle guides, and case studies.To view the Tool Kit, and to learn more about the Education to Practice initiative, be sure to visit our website.
Education2Practice
education2practice.org
Education2Practice (E2P) is a
statewide initiative encouraging health educators and professionals to
work together to increase the number of high-functioning health care
teams capable of caring for the whole patient.
How One Nurse Practitioner Sees 200 Patients Across 60k Square Miles
“I couldn’t do this without telemedicine,” McCrosky says.Nor could his patients. Christopher Estudillo, a member of the Laguna tribe of western New Mexico, lives in Winslow. He walks six blocks from his house to the Winslow clinic, where he can have a virtual visit with McCrosky, or a face-to-face visit on the two days a year McCrosky visits the clinic. Estudillo’s other option is driving 60 miles to Flagstaff.
Another of McCrosky’s patients, who wants to be anonymous, was infected with HIV from a transfusion almost 30 years ago.
“Yes, it (telemedicine) did feel weird at first, like talking to a TV,” she says. “But it works. You get used to it. And it’s good for Steve to not have to drive all the way over here. I think telemedicine will become even more popular that it is now. I think it’s the wave of the future.” Read more
CMS will try offering hospice patients both palliative, curative treatments
The CMS is moving forward with an experiment that will allow Medicare's hospice beneficiaries to get treatments aimed at helping them get better at the same time they get palliative care dubbed the Medicare Care Choices Model.
Only 44% of Medicare patients use the hospice benefit at the end of life and most use it for only a short period of time, according to the CMS. Read More
Informatics Research Activities, March 2014
Health Information Technology Research
Workarounds to procedures embedded in electronic health records are common, even among early adoptersDecision support tools improve antibiotic prescribing for respiratory infections
Research Activities, March 2014. March 2014. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/newsletters/research-activities/14mar/index.html
Apps promoting reflection boost job satisfaction among hospital staff
Hospital workers spent more time in reflection--a type of informal
learning on the job--and reported greater job satisfaction from the use
of apps that foster reflection, according to the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
The German study looked at time spent in reflection and job satisfaction before the apps were introduced and afterward. Apps can foster reflection in a number of ways, it points out--through virtual settings, in documenting experiences, reflecting on experiences and supporting communication and cooperation in collaborative reflection.
The 167 hospital employees were involved in workshops on the value of reflection and involved in app development and user testing.
>> Read the full story at FierceHealthIT
- find the research
The German study looked at time spent in reflection and job satisfaction before the apps were introduced and afterward. Apps can foster reflection in a number of ways, it points out--through virtual settings, in documenting experiences, reflecting on experiences and supporting communication and cooperation in collaborative reflection.
The 167 hospital employees were involved in workshops on the value of reflection and involved in app development and user testing.
>> Read the full story at FierceHealthIT
- find the research
3 ways to enhance patient engagement
Engaging patients in
their own wellness and care--as well as their personal health data--is
necessary to qualify for new payment models and incentives and to
improve outcomes.
Looking for some creative strategies to engage patients? Tech reporter Allison Diana compiled a whopping 16 of them in a slideshow for InformationWeek. Here are just three of the recommendations:
Electronic messages to patients: "Meaningful Use Stage 2 mandates that more than 5 percent of patients communicate with healthcare providers via secure electronic messages," Diana writes. "Increased messaging saves on phone costs and pleases patients with its convenience and immediacy." At Children's Medical Center in Dallas, for example, patients and families averaged 480 messages monthly over six months in 2013, a number that is expected to increase, according to the article.
Readmission reduction: In Danville, Pa., Geisinger Health Plan's telehealth program reduced readmissions by 44 percent and improved relations between patients and staff when caseworkers following up with heart failure patients after they left the hospital, according to the article. As FierceHealthcare has reported, Charleston (W.V.) Area Medical Center used a follow-up call system for heart failure patients and reduced readmissions by 25 percent; William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wis., cut them by 11 percent using a similar system.
Emphasize pain reduction: St. John's Children's Hospital in Springfield, Ill., equips patient rooms with GetWellTown, a network that gives patients access to educational videos, the Internet and TV programming, as well as prompting children to rank their current pain levels on a scale of one to 10, according to the article. "This helps nurses prioritize helping those patients in the most pain, and it has enabled the hospital to improve its patient satisfaction scores for pain control by 68 percent," Diana writes. Provider pain control efforts have been linked to patient satisfaction scores, as FierceHealthcare previously reported.
To learn more:
- here's the slideshow
Looking for some creative strategies to engage patients? Tech reporter Allison Diana compiled a whopping 16 of them in a slideshow for InformationWeek. Here are just three of the recommendations:
Electronic messages to patients: "Meaningful Use Stage 2 mandates that more than 5 percent of patients communicate with healthcare providers via secure electronic messages," Diana writes. "Increased messaging saves on phone costs and pleases patients with its convenience and immediacy." At Children's Medical Center in Dallas, for example, patients and families averaged 480 messages monthly over six months in 2013, a number that is expected to increase, according to the article.
Readmission reduction: In Danville, Pa., Geisinger Health Plan's telehealth program reduced readmissions by 44 percent and improved relations between patients and staff when caseworkers following up with heart failure patients after they left the hospital, according to the article. As FierceHealthcare has reported, Charleston (W.V.) Area Medical Center used a follow-up call system for heart failure patients and reduced readmissions by 25 percent; William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wis., cut them by 11 percent using a similar system.
Emphasize pain reduction: St. John's Children's Hospital in Springfield, Ill., equips patient rooms with GetWellTown, a network that gives patients access to educational videos, the Internet and TV programming, as well as prompting children to rank their current pain levels on a scale of one to 10, according to the article. "This helps nurses prioritize helping those patients in the most pain, and it has enabled the hospital to improve its patient satisfaction scores for pain control by 68 percent," Diana writes. Provider pain control efforts have been linked to patient satisfaction scores, as FierceHealthcare previously reported.
To learn more:
- here's the slideshow
New National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 2014: NPSG.06.01.01: Improve the safety of clinical alarm systems.
The Joint Commission added a new National Patient Safety
Goal (NPSG) in 2014: NPSG.06.01.01: Improve the safety of clinical alarm
systems.Managing alarms from the variety of monitoring systems used today can be a challenging task. This eBrief looks at two methods to begin reducing alarm fatigue and tackling clinical alarm safety.
Read it today!
Which hospital you choose can make a huge difference.
Choosing a good hospital:
Consumer Reports Health Rating Center analyzes data from
hospitals nationwide and finds big differences. This video will help you
choose a good hospital. Read More
Top 10 iPhone medical apps released in February
A new effort undertaking at iMedicalApps is trying to find the
best medical apps released on a monthly basis. This is the second
installment in this effort. We did a review of the top iPhone medical
apps released in January last month, and this post reviews the top iPhone medical apps released in the month of February.Read More
RNs key to EHR improvement, says CIO
healthcareitnews.com
When it comes to nurses, a couple things go without saying. First,
they're absolutely essential to good care delivery. Second -- and this
follows from the first -- they're "very, very, very busy people," says
David Holland.
"When you're in the hospital, I know physicians make a lot of decisions about your care, but it's really nurses who deliver your care," says Holland, vice president and CIO at Southern Illinois Healthcare, a three-hospital system based in Carbondale, Ill.
In Holland's case, the CIO stands for chief innovation officer, he says. "I not only have IT in our hospital, I have process improvement, all our Lean activities, etc." Read More
"When you're in the hospital, I know physicians make a lot of decisions about your care, but it's really nurses who deliver your care," says Holland, vice president and CIO at Southern Illinois Healthcare, a three-hospital system based in Carbondale, Ill.
In Holland's case, the CIO stands for chief innovation officer, he says. "I not only have IT in our hospital, I have process improvement, all our Lean activities, etc." Read More
mHealth is different in China
In the Arizona pilot, 50 heart patients, many of whom lived in rural
communities far from the hospital, were given wireless devices to track
weight, blood pressure, and activity levels daily. The data was
automatically transmitted to health providers, who could then follow up
with tips and health advice.
The hospital system found, at the end of six months, that, compared to the six months prior to enrollment, these patients had fewer hospitalizations (an average of 1.82 versus 3.26) and fewer days hospitalized (an average of 5.13 versus 13.98). All in all, the hospital estimates it saved $92,317 per patient.
“The tools were cool, but if you add a nurse to it it’s really cool,” Sorenson said. “Using the technology and being able to have a person [virtually] in their home, just putting the technology there and being able to talk a patient through an anxiety was key
China’s program was also designed to support rural communities that don’t have access to the same care found in big cities. The program involved distributing a 3G system — including smartphones with built-in ECG sensors, a web-based EMR software, and internet ready workstations — to community health clinics in rural areas in China. Clinics used these tools to perform cardiovascular screenings on more than 10,000 patients, 1,700 of whom were referred to higher-level clinics for treatment. “mHealth is still in its fledgling state in China...Read More
The hospital system found, at the end of six months, that, compared to the six months prior to enrollment, these patients had fewer hospitalizations (an average of 1.82 versus 3.26) and fewer days hospitalized (an average of 5.13 versus 13.98). All in all, the hospital estimates it saved $92,317 per patient.
“The tools were cool, but if you add a nurse to it it’s really cool,” Sorenson said. “Using the technology and being able to have a person [virtually] in their home, just putting the technology there and being able to talk a patient through an anxiety was key
China’s program was also designed to support rural communities that don’t have access to the same care found in big cities. The program involved distributing a 3G system — including smartphones with built-in ECG sensors, a web-based EMR software, and internet ready workstations — to community health clinics in rural areas in China. Clinics used these tools to perform cardiovascular screenings on more than 10,000 patients, 1,700 of whom were referred to higher-level clinics for treatment. “mHealth is still in its fledgling state in China...Read More
Rising Use of Social Media in Healthcare [INFOGRAPHIC]
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Here is an infographic
made by Demi & Cooper Advertising. There
are some really great nuggets of information in the graphic, including the fact
that 60% of physicians feel social media improves patient care and half of
smartphone owners use their device for health information. When you consider
those numbers, it’s a little surprising only 26% of hospitals use social media. Read more
Health IT Policy Committee Approves MU Stage 3 Recommendations
After
a contentious March 11 Health IT Policy Committee meeting, members of
the federal advisory committee voted to approve the Meaningful Use Work
Group’s Stage 3 recommendations. After earlier feedback from the Policy
Committee, the Meaningful Use Workgroup had eliminated eight of 26
initial recommendations. Read More
Give nurses the power to make care decisions to improve patient outcomes
Hospitals that have visible and accessible chief nurses and also
involve nurses in care-delivery decisions offer better quality of care,
according to a new study published in The Journal of Nursing Administration.
Quality improvement efforts typically focus on the role of physicians and medical outcomes, but hospitals that provide nurses with a positive working environment, resources and support reap the benefits in better patient care, lead author Amy Witkoski Stimpfel, Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor at New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN), said in a study announcement.
The study underscores results of previous research published in Medical Care, which found Magnet hospitals that invest in nurse staffing, education and work environments achieve better patient outcomes and lower mortality rates.
Quality improvement efforts typically focus on the role of physicians and medical outcomes, but hospitals that provide nurses with a positive working environment, resources and support reap the benefits in better patient care, lead author Amy Witkoski Stimpfel, Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor at New York University College of Nursing (NYUCN), said in a study announcement.
The study underscores results of previous research published in Medical Care, which found Magnet hospitals that invest in nurse staffing, education and work environments achieve better patient outcomes and lower mortality rates.
HIT Policy Committee Cuts 30% of Initial Stage 3 Recommendations
The Health IT Policy Committee has approved scaled-down recommendations
to the Department of Health and Human Services on criteria for Stage 3
of the electronic health records meaningful use program. The
recommendations, which include 19 objectives for providers to comply
with compared with 26 in an earlier version, will inform HHS in
developing a proposed rule for Stage 3.
READ MORE »
READ MORE »
2014 Nursing Informatics Workforce Survey Results Released
At the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, HIMSS released
the results of the 2014 HIMSS Nursing Informatics Workforce Survey,
which examines the roles, responsibilities and outlook for nursing
informatics professionals. The 2014 Survey captures current professional
status and practice trends while identifying changes that have occurred
over the last nine years in the nursing informatics workforce. To
download the full survey report, executive summary, PowerPoint slides
and other resources visit NI Workforce webpage.
Nursing Informatics Workforce Survey Results
The 2014 Survey captures current professional status and
practice trends while identifying changes that have occurred over the
last 9 years in the nursing informatics workforce. Explore the results
of 1,047 respondents.
Download the Executive Summary
Download the Full Report Findings
Download the PowerPoint slides (for your use in presentations)
Download the Executive Summary
Download the Full Report Findings
Download the PowerPoint slides (for your use in presentations)
Air Force offers pregnancy app, medical app to Tricare members
The
Center of Excellence for Medical Multimedia (CEMM), established by the
Office of the Air Force Surgeon General, released two health apps this
week, which are available for anyone who receive health insurance
benefits from the military.The Department of Veteran Affairs, which has been developing its own suite of apps for
the past few years, has shared information about the app with different
heads of its organization — the Women Veteran Program Managers, Women’s
Health Medical Directors and Maternity Care Coordinators. The VA plans
to encourage its providers to promote the app to members via its
Clinical Practice Guidelines site. Read more
Telemedicine in Nursing Homes Cuts Hospitalizations, Costs
A Commonwealth Fund-sponsored study finds that hospitalization rates
significantly declined at nursing homes that offered after-hours
telemedicine services. According to the study, Medicare could save about
$151,000 annually per nursing home if all facilities adopted
telemedicine. Clinical Innovation & Technology. Read more Access the study here
Why nurses deserve a seat at the health IT development table
FierceHealthIT In a recent interview, Elizabeth "Betty" Jordan, R.N., an assistant
professor at the University of South Florida College of Nursing, said
that nurses should be included in all health IT decisions. From conception to evaluation, she said, nurses deserve a seat at the IT table.
"Our healthcare space is getting bigger, and nurses working on those units really rely on technology to be able to communicate," Jordan said. "Once they're comfortable with it, they won't be able to live without it."
In particular, Jordan talked about how often times, nurses are given demonstrations on IT tools that already exist--including tablets and other monitoring devices--but are not given the opportunity to join in on such conversations during the planning stages. Read more
"Our healthcare space is getting bigger, and nurses working on those units really rely on technology to be able to communicate," Jordan said. "Once they're comfortable with it, they won't be able to live without it."
In particular, Jordan talked about how often times, nurses are given demonstrations on IT tools that already exist--including tablets and other monitoring devices--but are not given the opportunity to join in on such conversations during the planning stages. Read more
Health IT Literature Review Report and Interactive Data Visualization on the Health IT Dashboard!
http://dashboard.healthit.gov ONC recently updated its Health IT Dashboard with the results of a comprehensive literature of the impacts of health IT titled: Health Information Technology: An Updated Systematic Review with a Focus on Meaningful Use Functionalities. The literature review updates previous systematic reviews with the new peer review literature published during the 2010 to 2013 time frame.
The literature review results include findings that the majority of new studies indicate that health IT enabled significant gains in health care quality, but efficiency and safety were still the subjects of relatively little research. In addition, this report has a complementary interactive data visualization that allows users to see the value of health IT across these outcomes. The report and data visualization are just one of many examples of what ONC has been doing to show the value of health IT and make data come alive.
Download the full report [PDF — 2.2 MB] from HealthIT.gov, or dig deeper into the literature with ONC's interactive data visualization. With the data visualization you can:
· Read about the effect of health IT on outcomes
· Use a clickable interactive tree map that shows what Meaningful Use health IT functionalities have positive or negative impacts on healthcare outcomes.
· Browse through a sortable and interactive table of 236 new health IT studies to explore what the new research evidence shows regarding the relationship between health IT and quality, safety, and efficiency.
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e-Behaviorial Health
Benefit from new technologies... enable people to have remote access to CBT
