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Hospices obviously depend on community physicians for referrals and to sign medical orders, while Medicare regulations define essential roles for the hospice medical director as a core member of the team. But inconsistent or insufficient medical leadership of some hospice teams, coupled with occasional conflicts and misunderstandings with referring physicians, have left a lingering perception in some quarters that hospice is “anti-physician.”
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It sounds funny to talk about finding and keeping good volunteer leaders, but as anyone whos been associated with a less-than-stellar fundraising campaign can attest, your campaign is only as successful as its leaders.
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Don Schumacher, PsyD, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in Alexandria, VA, challenged members of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) to learn more about futile medical care.
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At the height of AIDS mortality, hospices built inpatient facilities and assembled the expertise to deal with an epidemic that seemed to have no end in sight. Since then, however, improved drugs and prevention education have lowered the number of annual deaths.
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The risk of acquiring HIV infection from occupational exposures may be even lower than the three in 1,000 rate that is commonly cited.
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Drug screening rarely comes out positive in new hires, but the screening itself may dissuade drug users from applying for jobs. The University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina in Greenville, NC, was able to make the process more cost-effective by implementing random drug screening.
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Figuring out how to save money is a lot easier than actually doing it. That is the lesson that Delynn Lamott, RN, MS, COHN-S, learned when she went to work for a small community hospital in Michigan.
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Been there; done that; got stuck. Sometimes the most convincing argument for using safer needles comes from someone who didnt.