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Consult Service Created for Moral Distress
When ICU nurses at the University of Virginia Health System were experiencing a serious issue with moral distress, they asked Ann B. Hamric, PhD, RN, for help.
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Study: Pathologists Want More Active Role in Error Disclosure
Pathologists want to play a more active role in conversations about errors with patients, instead of turning to the treating physician to handle it, according to a recent study.1
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Do Concierge Practices Indicate Medicine ‘Needs to Be Fixed?’
The continued growth of concierge medicine is spurred, in part, by a strong desire for longer, more meaningful visits. This is true for both patients and physicians.
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Case of Terminally Ill Infant Sparks Ethical Debate Over Autonomy
The highly-publicized case of Charlie Gard, a terminally ill British infant, ignited a recent global ethical controversy. The case involved a court battle between the hospital, who wanted to remove the infant from life support, and the child’s parents, who wanted their son transferred to the U.S. for an experimental treatment.
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CDC Updating Measles Guidelines for HCWs
The CDC is preparing to review its guideline for measles and healthcare workers, as the once-eradicated childhood infection spreads in ongoing outbreaks in the U.S. and Europe.
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High-risk Patients, High-risk Infections
If there is a worst-case scenario in infection control, it likely involves a life-threatening infection spreading in a vulnerable patient population. They don’t get much more vulnerable than babies in a neonatal ICU, or adults undergoing bone marrow transplant. With their frail immune systems compromised, central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) pose a serious threat warranting an immediate infection control response.
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Twin Peaks: A Persistent Norovirus Outbreak
A nasty, easily transmitted bug
that has ruined many a cruise vacation, norovirus can cause chaotic, labor-intensive outbreaks in hospitals. In that regard, an infection preventionists recently described a norovirus outbreak that kept reigniting in different locations in a situation somewhat akin to fighting a forest fire in high wind. -
Resistance to Change? Try Motivational Interviewing
How do you get someone to change behavior when simply telling them to do so is met with resistance — the “righting reaction” as APIC closing plenary speaker Sanjay Saint, MD, terms it. One approach is called “motivational interviewing,” which first demonstrated efficacy in the addiction field, said Saint, director of the University of Michigan Patient Safety Enhancement Program.
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Novel Approaches to Change Behavior and Protect Patients
Much of infection control work — a frustrating portion to many IPs — is trying to change human behavior. One need look no further than the historic struggle with hand hygiene and the various carrots and sticks that have been dangled and cracked in the name of compliance for decades.
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Changes to Readmissions Rule Will Help, But No Panacea
A significant number of hospitals are set to benefit from changes in how CMS calculates penalties under the value-based Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), but the proposed rule won’t solve all their problems related to readmissions, says Bill Bithoney, MD, formerly CEO, CCO, and CMO at Sisters of Providence Health System in Springfield, MA, and now a managing director at BDO International consulting in New York City.