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The onus for much of the "needless suffering and death" caused by health care-acquired infections (HAIs) was recently ascribed to a failure of leadership by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in a scathing report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
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Even as health care epidemiologists fear that "getting to zero" infection prevention efforts may be unleashing some unintended consequences, one highly successful program associated with the movement recently drew the praises of Congress.
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The seemingly benign use of a checklist to ensure infection control measures are followed during a clinical procedure erupted in controversy recently when a federal agency questioned whether one such program fell into the category of human research.
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If an employee is morbidly obese, drug-impaired, or chronically sleep-deprived, you would probably suspect that this individual is at greater risk for injury or illness in the workplace. But what if the worker is part-time or hired on a temporary basis?
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Stroke is the third leading cause of death yet many of these fatalities could be prevented, according to the National Stroke Association based in Centennial, CO. Statistics tallied by this organization find about 80% of the 780,000 strokes occurring annually could have been avoided.
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Teaching patients about pain management is an important part of their education, yet many institutions have trouble meeting this education standard required by The Joint Commission in Oakbrook Terrace, IL.
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Anna Gibson, RN, CDMS, a case manager specializing in catastrophic injuries and rehabilitation, typically gets a call when a catastrophically injured worker has just arrived at an acute care hospital and has been admitted to the intensive care unit.
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Creating a plan of care for a catastrophically injured patient is a little like creating a patchwork quilt you gather up scraps from a lot of different places and stitch it together, says Jolynne "Jo" Carter, BSN, RN, CCM.
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Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in Anthem Blue Cross' Self-Care Initiative cut their emergency department use for nonemergent conditions in half, earning the Thousand Oaks, CA-based subsidiary of WellPoint Inc. a BlueWorks Award from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
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Diagnostic procedures range from easy and unobtrusive (maybe just a quick nasal swab, that's all), to highly obtrusive and uncomfortable (read, colonoscopy), with this spectrum largely determining patient willingness to pursue them.