-
As of July 1, first-year medical residents may be getting a better night's sleep. New rules limit duty hours for interns to a 16-hour shift, ban them from moonlighting, and require them to have at least 8 hours free between duty hours.
-
Being greener is safer. As hospitals join the sustainability movement, they are making the workplace safer for their own employees.
-
When a single imported case of measles led to a small outbreak in Tucson, AZ, in 2008, two hospitals were forced to spend a total of some $800,000 to contain it, much of that related to ensuring the immunity of employees.
-
The new rules of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) focus primarily on first-year residents to reduce fatigue and fatigue-related errors.
-
The skin is a very effective barrier to hazards such as blood or body fluids. But because some chemicals can penetrate the skin, health care workers need to be aware of the risks and necessary protections, says Scott Dotson, PhD, CIH, an industrial hygienist with the Education and Information Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati.
-
Injuries from contaminated needles and other sharps that can cause infectious diseases are preventable, and shouldn't be tolerated as a cost of doing business by health care organizations charged with ensuring safety and preventing harm.
-
Smoothing" occupancy over the course of a week can protect patients from crowded conditions, according to a study involving 39 children's hospitals during 2007.1 Researchers compared weekday versus weekend occupancy to determine just how much "smoothing" can reduce inpatient crowding.
-
In a single month, registrars at Trinity Regional Health System in Rock Island, IL, were able to obtain disability coverage for five patients with a total of $450,000 in charges, and they were able to obtain Medicaid coverage for 104 patients who had received a total of $100,000 in services.
-
If a registrar complains to Kathleen Bowles, LSW, patient access supervisor at The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, she begins by asking these questions: When did the incident take place? What occurred? Who was involved? What was the outcome of the situation?
-
You might be seeing a decrease in your "financial buckets" of insured patients, and an increase in underinsured or uninsured patients, without a corresponding increase in the number of services rendered.