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.
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
Improving Value in Health Care ... 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. 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. Semmelweis was outraged by the indifference of the medical profession and began writing open and increasingly angry letters to prominent European obstetricians, at times denouncing them as irresponsible murderers.
"The Savior of Mothers"; Heroes (and others) of Environmental & Public Health Mini Bio #19 By: Susan-Marie Cronkite, PhD. Ignaz Semmelweis 1818 – 1865 Dr. 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. The medical community at the time believed the mortality rate was due to any number of factors, including: miasmas, fear, constipation, delayed lactation, crowding and the season [4]. “Totally shattered [by the death of Kolletschka], I brooded over the case with intense emotion until suddenly a thought crossed my mind; at once it became clear to me that childbed fever and the death of Professor Kolletschka were one and the same because they both consist pathologically of the same anatomic changes. Following up on his assumption, Semmelweis discovered that the educational focus of each clinic was at the base of the problem; in Clinic One, the teaching was dedicated to young doctors, physician professors and students. [6] Dr.
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? 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.
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.
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.
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.