Aligning Forces for Quality. A September 1 study in the New England Journal of Medicine by the AF4Q Alliance in Cleveland found that the quality of diabetes care, across insurance types including Medicaid and uninsured patients, was improved by the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). “We were not surprised by these results,” said Randall D. Cebul, MD, director of Better Health Greater Cleveland and the study’s lead author, “but they were influenced by several factors, including our public reporting on agreed-upon standards of care and the willingness of our clinical partners to share their EHR-based best practices while simultaneously competing on their execution.” The research involved more than 500 primary care physicians in 46 practices that are partners in Better Health Greater Cleveland. EHR sites were associated with significantly higher achievement of care and outcome standards and greater improvement in diabetes care.
Vets face shortage of therapists to help with PTSD. July 20, 2011|By Peter Cameron, Special to the Tribune Dr. Eric Proescher at the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center in Chicago. He says that as a veteran, he better understands the mental health needs of former military personnel. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune) When Daniel Brautigam tried to tell therapists how he felt having urine thrown in his face at Guantanamo Bay, he experienced the same frustration as thousands of other returning veterans who have sought counseling. "They had no idea how to respond to that. It looked like to me that they were grossed out, and they're supposed to be helping me," said Brautigam, 31, who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression following his return to Hoffman Estates from tours with the Navy in the Northern Arabian Gulf and Cuba.
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 11 percent to 20 percent of veterans from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are suffering from PTSD. Dr. CVS Caremark Partners With HHF to Inspire Future Latino Health Care Leaders. WOONSOCKET, R.I. and WASHINGTON, -- CVS Caremark and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) announced a new partnership to identify, inspire and prepare young Latinos to join health care fields, through a new Health Care category of the prestigious HHF Youth Awards program. This fall and winter, CVS Caremark and HHF will recognize more than 30 outstanding high school seniors of Latino descent for their academic performance, community service and interest in pursuing a career in health care.
The recipients, three from each of 10 regions across the country, will receive educational grants from CVS Caremark as well as exposure to experts in health care fields, and mentoring, training and internship opportunities as they head off to college. The Youth Awardees are selected from more than 10,000 applicants. In addition to the Health Care category, Youth Awardees are honored in Business, Math & Engineering, Education, and Community Service. About CVS Caremark Source: PR Newswire. Tu Salud - TS News : Study: Worst Hospitals Treat More Minorities. October 6, 2011 Study: Worst Hospitals Treat More Minorities For the study, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health examined the link between quality care, cost and types of patients at about 32,000 hospitals nationwide. Researchers then identified 122 “best” hospitals (those with the highest quality care and lowest cost rates) and 178 “worst” hospitals (those with the lowest quality care and highest cost rates).
The best hospitals were typically nonprofit institutions located in the northeast. (Many boasted cardiac intensive care units and a higher proportion of nurses.) The worst hospitals were usually small, for-profit or public and located in the South. Researchers found that the worst hospitals treated twice the proportion of elderly minority and poor patients. What this means for poor and minority patients who use the worst hospitals, scientists cautioned, is that in 2013, when certain health care reform rules kick in, there’ll be significant problems. Aligning Forces for Quality: At the Forefront of Reform. Performance Measurement and Public Reporting in Action. Aligning Forces For Quality: A Program To Improve Health And Health Care In Communities Across The United States. In june 2008 the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) launched phase II of Aligning Forces for Quality, a long-term, $300 million initial commitment to help up to twenty geographically, economically, and demographically diverse communities reweave the fabric of their health care systems to be stronger, more resilient, and of higher quality across the full continuum of care.
Despite major investments by many, overall quality of health care in the United States continues to be mediocre or suboptimal, and costs continue to soar. Also, the key partnership between doctor and patient is fraying. Doctors and patients try to create coordinated, healing care experiences but do so in a chaotic, inefficient health care nonsystem. And, unfortunately, fragmented, inefficient care harms racial and ethnic minorities more than most other people.1 The nation can and must do better. Results of previously funded research. Phase I of Aligning Forces. MyHealthCareOptions - Welcome. Massachusetts Health Quality Partners. Impediments to implementing evidence-based mental health in developing countries -- Soltani et al. 7 (3): 64 -- Evidence-Based Mental Health.
Mental and behavioural disorders are among the most important causes of morbidity and disability in both the developed and the developing world.1 As a proportion of total morbidity and disability, these problems are comparatively less significant in developing countries, mainly because of the large burden of communicable, maternal, perinatal, and nutritional conditions in these regions. However, mental disorders result in major deprivations such as lower levels of educational attainment, unemployment and, in extreme cases, homelessness of patients.1 The delivery of healthcare services including mental health in low and middle income countries presents a number of difficult challenges such as population explosion, unplanned urbanisation, scarcity of human resources, lack of reliable data, and lack of a systematic approach to healthcare distribution and referral systems.2 Clinicians attempting to practice evidence-based mental health face additional challenges.
Sources of evidence. The Wellness Network Debuts Animated Speak Up Series Produced by The Joint Commission « The Wellness Network. Animated Series Educates Patients on Taking Medications Safely and Preventing Errors in Care (NEW YORK, NY) July 26, 2011 — The Wellness Network, parent company of The Patient Channel and The Newborn Channel, today announced a new animated series produced by The Joint Commission to be featured on the network. The videos, titled “Speak Up: Take Medication Safely” and “Speak Up: Prevent Errors In Your Care,” will encourage millions of patients in hospitals across the country to speak up and be active participants in their health care.
“These fun videos have a serious purpose — letting patients of all literacy levels know it is okay and expected that they ask questions about their care,” said Dave Ross, chief operating officer for The Wellness Network. Produced by The Joint Commission, the Speak Up series features entertaining 60-second videos intended as public service announcements.
About The Wellness Network About The Joint Commission. RWJ_MS_Exec_Summary.pdf. The Social Life of Health Information, 2011. By Susannah Fox “I don’t know, but I can try to find out” is the default setting for people with health questions. The internet has changed people’s relationships with information. Our data consistently show that doctors, nurses, and other health professionals continue to be the first choice for most people with health concerns, but online resources, including advice from peers, are a significant source of health information in the U.S. These findings are based on a national telephone survey conducted in August and September 2010 among 3,001 adults in the U.S. The complete methodology and results are appended to this report. The survey finds that, of the 74% of adults who use the internet: 80% of internet users have looked online for information about any of 15 health topics such as a specific disease or treatment.
Of those who use social network sites (62% of adult internet users, or 46% of all adults): “I know, and I want to share my knowledge” is the leading edge of health care. If Evidence Really Mattered, Physicians Would Be More Empathetic With Patients. Is anyone else tired of hearing about how important empathy is in the physician-patient relationship? Every other day it seems a new study is talking about the therapeutic value of empathy. Enough already! It’s not that I don’t believe that empathy is important, I do. I also believe the data that links physician empathy with improved patient outcomes, increased satisfaction, and better patient experiences.
A recent study released in Academic Medicine reported that “patients of physicians with high empathy scores were significantly more likely to have good control over their blood sugar as well as cholesterol, while the inverse was true for patients of physicians with low scores.” Going back further, in a 2001 review of 25 randomly controlled studies that looked at the influence of the practitioner-patient interactions outcomes , Di Blasi et al concluded that: Today we are told the health care is supposed to be evidence –based.
What do you think? Sources: Hojat, M. et al. Study shows physician's empathy directly associated with positive clinical outcomes. It has been thought that the quality of the physician-patient relationship is integral to positive outcomes but until now, data to confirm such beliefs has been hard to find. Through a landmark study, a research team from Jefferson Medical College (JMC) of Thomas Jefferson University has been able to quantify a relationship between physicians' empathy and their patients' positive clinical outcomes, suggesting that a physician's empathy is an important factor associated with clinical competence.
The study is available in the March 2011 issue of Academic Medicine. "The purpose of this study was to provide an evidence-based scientific foundation for the study of empathy as a clinically important factor in patient outcomes," said Mohammadreza Hojat, Ph.D., research professor, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior; and director, Jefferson Longitudinal Study of Medical Education in the Center for Research in Medical Education and Health Care at JMC. The 29 physicians completed the JSE. Doctor Saved Michigan $100 Million. Why Hospitals Are Cold, and Doctors Don’t Cry (in Public) Why Doctors seem cold | LifePart2. Doctor Leads Quest for Safer Ways to Care for Patients. Healing Spaces - Esther M. Sternberg, M.D. Does the world make you sick? If the distractions and distortions around you, the jarring colors and sounds, could shake up the healing chemistry of your mind, might your surroundings also have the power to heal you? This is the question Esther Sternberg explores in Healing Spaces, a look at the marvelously rich nexus of mind and body, perception and place.
Sternberg immerses us in the discoveries that have revealed a complicated working relationship between the senses, the emotions, and the immune system. First among these is the story of the researcher who, in the 1980s, found that hospital patients with a view of nature healed faster than those without. How could a pleasant view speed healing?
The author pursues this question through a series of places and situations that explore the neurobiology of the senses. If our senses can lead us to a “place of healing,” it is no surprise that our place in nature is of critical importance in Sternberg’s account. Doctor Leads Quest for Safer Ways to Care for Patients. "The Savior of Mothers"; Heroes (and others) of Environmental & Public Health Mini Bio #19. By: Susan-Marie Cronkite, PhD. Ignaz Semmelweis 1818 – 1865 Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis is called the “savior of mothers” because he discovered that the incidence of puerperal sepsis, or childbed fever, could be drastically reduced if attending physicians washed their hands with disinfectant prior to helping mothers in the birthing process [1].
Sadly, the medical system at the time was highly resistant to change, so his assertions were ridiculed and he soon became an outcast. Semmelweis is actually one of the better known heroes of Environmental Health as his tragic life is often taught in classes on the history of medicine, epidemiology and environmental/public health. Cases of childbed fever have been recorded throughout history [2], but it did not become a serious wide-spread problem until the 17th century and the invention of lying-in or childbirth hospitals.
Despite the clinical evidence, the medical community rejected his findings. Annotated References: [1] Hanninen, O., M. . [6] Dr. Dr. Semmelweis’ Biography at Semmelweis Society International. Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis (July 1, 1818 – August 13, 1865), also Ignác Semmelweis (born Semmelweis Ignác Fülöp), was a Hungarian physician called the “saviour of mothers” who discovered, by 1847, that the incidence of puerperal fever, also known as childbed fever could be drastically cut by use of hand washing standards in obstetrical clinics. While employed as assistant to the professor of the maternity clinic at the Vienna General Hospital in Austria in 1847, Semmelweis introduced hand washing with chlorinated lime solutions for interns who had performed autopsies. This immediately reduced the incidence of fatal puerperal fever from about 10 percent (range 5–30 percent) to about 1–2 percent.
Semmelweis’ hypothesis, that there was only one cause, that all that mattered was cleanliness, was extreme at the time, and was largely ignored, rejected or ridiculed. Improving Value in Health Care ... Masspro. At some point in everyone's life, the quality of care will be a matter not just of public concern, but of personal interest. Masspro is one of the leading healthcare assessment and quality improvement companies in the United States. We are also the federally endorsed Quality Improvement Organization for Massachusetts. Dedicated to improving patient care for better patient outcomes, we partner with our clients and the healthcare community to achieve improvements in the delivery of care using validated clinical evidence and data. With our assistance, providers can easily adapt to the ever-changing systems of healthcare and ensure that patients are assured the highest quality of care possible at an optimal cost. Masspro's Services Lead to Clear Knowledge Masspro’s quality improvement services lead to clear knowledge about where improvements can be made across all sectors of the healthcare delivery system.
Effective Clinical Measures Safe Clinical Care Efficient Patient Care. IHI Home Page.