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Using a "daily rounding quality checklist," which takes just a few minutes to complete, the Los Angeles County/University of Southern California Hospital increased compliance with "care bundles" to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and other intensive care unit complications.
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Patient deaths from heart failure were decreased by 50%, readmissions reduced by 12%, and complications reduced by 77%, as a result of a quality improvement initiative at Texas-based Valley Baptist Health System.
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A major software upgrade has dramatically increased the ability of a New Jersey health system's behavioral health call center to serve as a "one-stop connection" for local emergency departments, psychiatric emergency screening services, and a stand-alone psychiatric hospital, says Dawn Fenske, director of Saint Barnabas Management Services in Toms River, NJ.
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Review of physician performance by peers is effective when done properly, but the process is time-consuming and often very subjective.
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It puts behavioral health patients at risk if the players coming to the table are not coordinating efforts to make the most efficient use of available resources, notes Mark Catalano, LCSW, manager of admissions at Seton Shoal Creek Hospital in Austin, TX.
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Education about skin cancer is still needed, says Linda K. Franks, MD, FAAD, director of Gramercy Park Dermatology in New York City, though it is common to see adults on vacation making little effort to avoid the known risks for skin cancer, which is exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
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To determine what barriers prevent patients with low health literacy from navigating a health care system, it's important for organizations to do an inventory.
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An asthma management program that includes telephonic case management, home visits, and physician incentives has saved money and earned accolades for Priority Health, a health plan company based in Grand Rapids, MI.
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There are many resources that help health care institutions develop strategies for teaching people how to appropriately access health care and use it to their best interest. Following is a description of two sites:
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Health literacy, according to the Institute of Medicine, is "the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions" and research has shown that patients are not all created equal.