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Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS) is using palm scan technology originally developed for the Japanese banking industry to ensure accurate patient identification at its five hospitals in the Charlotte, NC, metropolitan area.
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Study: Providers face disincentives to share data
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The defining protocol at a hospital transfer center is clear: If a patient urgently needs care, and your facility is the best place for him or her to receive that care, you bring the person in, provide the care, and talk later about how it's going to be funded.
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Physicians "will never have to come to the health information management [HIM] department again" with the implementation of new electronic health record technology at St. Francis Health Center in Topeka, KA, says Judy Hintzman, the facility's director of HIM.
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The Virginia Supreme Court in Richmond has ruled that a physician foundation tied to the University of Virginia Medical School in Richmond and its doctors are not immune from malpractice suits because of the foundation's charitable work.
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No new confirmed cases of occupationally acquired HIV have been reported since 2000. The hepatitis B vaccine has led to a dramatic reduction in new occupationally related cases. But the risk of transmission of disease from bloodborne pathogens to health care workers remains very real — a risk that isn't limited to hepatitis and HIV.
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The life of a home health nurse is filled with variety, independence, flexibility — and all too often, back pain. While hospitals are implementing safe lifting programs in their facilities, the home health nurse or aide travels from home to home and faces hazards the floor nurse couldn't imagine.
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The moment a nurse tries to help a heavy-set, medically fragile patient stand and walk is fraught with risk. With one miscalculation, the patient can fall, and the nurse or the patient — or both — may be seriously injured. If the patient falls, the hospital could have a lawsuit on its hands for failing to use mechanical assist devices that are readily available.
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Moving patients safely isn't just a way to protect workers. It also improves the mobility of patients while preventing falls — core components of patient safety and satisfaction.
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Verbal abuse, threats, assaults from combative or disoriented patients or emotionally distraught family members — those occurrences are so common in hospitals that many nurses seem to feel it's just "part of the job."
