There has been a lot of discussion lately about the number of days a flexible endoscope can safely be in storage before another cleaning is required. Different medical societies like SGNA, ASGE, AORN and APIC have come out with guidance on what the appropriate hang-time limits are. Some hospitals that we’ve talked to have listened […]
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With the seemingly endless amount of information clinicians are required to enter into medical records software each day, it comes as no surprise that doctors and other hospital staff are looking for short-cuts to reduce their documentation burden. At our customers, we’ve seen copying and pasting of data from templates or other patient records to
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A recent incident in the Philadelphia area reminds us of the dangers that can result from improperly trained staff in the endoscopy area of a hospital. In the incident, an elderly patient undergoing a surgical procedure had an improperly cleaned endoscope used on them during their procedure. The incident occurred at Crozer-Chester Medical Center, outside
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A recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that mortality of patients during Joint Commission surveys was reduced by 6% compared to before and after the surveys. The study, authored by Andrew Olenski, Michael Barnett and Anupam Jena, attributed the improved patient outcomes to the “Hawthorne Effect.” The “Hawthorne Effect” suggests that people actively
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Big data has been a buzzword in the healthcare industry for the past few years, but more often than not, the benefits of big data have been hard to quantify. Not so for St. Louis, Missouri-based Mercy health system. Mercy has recently turned big data findings in the perioperative area of their hospitals into savings
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In talking with our hospital customers, case mix index (CMI) often comes up as a source of confusion and misunderstanding by clinical staff. CMI is widely tracked by employees on the financial side of the hospital, but not monitored nearly as closely on the clinical side, so its impact is widely misunderstood. CMI is an
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In hospitals, endoscopy, perioperative, sterile processing and infection control teams have done a wonderful job of teaming up together to implement solutions for effective flexible endoscope management. This area has been one of the biggest, if not the biggest, area of scrutiny by Joint Commission and other surveying agencies in the past 1.5 years. We
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Recently, the Joint Commission (TJC) released its recommendations on how to create a culture of safety within healthcare organizations. As hospitals work to create safer environments for their staff and patients, a culture of safety has become tantamount to reaching their operational goals. A culture of safety can have several positive effects at a healthcare
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Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) continue to be a focus area for hospital departments such as infection control and sterile processing departments. Infection control has been a key area of focus by many US hospitals due to the huge financial and reputational risk that exists when an outbreak of a superbug occurs in a hospital. Biomedical
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Recently, dozens of societies representing different members of the medical community joined together to support the appreciation of scientific evidence, education and investment. Groups as varied as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association and the Association of American Cancer Institutes joined the cause to fight what they feel is an onslaught of
Medical Groups Come Out In Support Of The Importance Of Scientific Evidence Read More »