According to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 385,000 sharps-related injuries occur annually in the U.S. healthcare industry — an average of more than 1,000 per day. A sharps-related injury is a penetrating stab wound from a needle, scalpel, or other sharp object that may result in exposure to blood or body fluids. By Dave Hurton, Key Account Director, MedSafe
AMN Healthcare recently released its 2015 Survey of Registered Nurses. This research included input from nearly 9,000 RNs on topics ranging from retirement, education, and emerging roles. A number of the findings struck me, the following two especially:
That leaves us with the most experienced nurses nearing retirement and the majority of remaining nurses not feeling overjoyed with their jobs, although they love nursing. This points to an overwhelming need to improve conditions for care staff. Typically, the top dissatisfier for staff are staffing/scheduling issues, e.g., being short, having to float, having shifts cancelled, and being recruited constantly to pick up additional shifts. One of the solutions to this critical concern is a combination of technology and workforce strategies that can provide more certainty with staffing, greater work-life balance, and increased time with patients. By Chris Fox, president, Avantas
From the Apple Watch to the FitBit, wearable technology is revolutionizing how we manage our health. We track steps, count calories, and monitor sleep cycles. But what about older Americans who are unlikely to own a smartphone, much less feel comfortable using a piece of wearable technology — will the digital healthcare revolution leave seniors behind?
Despite the uptick in technology adoption by the healthcare industry overall, the implementation of health IT (HIT) in the senior care market is lagging behind in comparison to the rest of the healthcare market sectors. Long-term and skilled nursing facilities with EHR systems are seeing their benefits such as smoother transitions of care, staffing efficiencies and exchanging data between hospitals and physicians. So, despite the need for sophisticated health IT software to handle patient data generated by senior patients, why is the senior care industry slower to adopt these new capabilities? We can trace this to misconceptions about many things, most commonly concerns around cost and the belief that implementing an EHR will be disruptive to business. By Dave Wessinger, CTO, PointClickCare
Eldercare is not a particularly sexy branch of the healthcare world, but it’s increasingly becoming more important. The senior population in the U.S. is booming – census data shows that the 65-plus population will exceed 79 million in 2030. And as the senior population continues to grow, the health of seniors continues to decrease as compared to prior generations. All this begs the question: How can we handle caring for seniors in the U.S.? By Wolf Shlagman, founder and CEO, Care Angel
The healthcare industry is in the midst of a transition from ‘healthcare’ to ‘health optimization’ and remote monitoring technology will play a crucial role. By Julie Carr, RN, BSN, Director, Clinical Operations, Healthsense, Inc.
Running a nursing home can be a challenging assignment. From the health and safety of every resident and staff member to the daily task of maintaining a sprawling facility – it’s a demanding job.
Healthcare facilities across the country face the problem of proper disposal of fibrous materials like wipes, diapers, rags and other solids. By Cynthia Guardia - Cia Communications, Inc.
Half of all patients fail to take their medications correctly, according to a 2010 report by the World Health Organization, due to problems such as overuse, underuse or misuse of prescription or non-prescription medicines. This poses possible dangers, as mixing medicines could adversely affect someone's health, and not taking medicines in the correct dosage can lower the ability to fight off disease. By Jamar Ramos
Individuals are connecting to the Internet in exploding numbers, especially with mobile devices. Smartphone use grew by 45 percent from 2011 through 2012, and by 44 percent from 2012 through 2013, according to a new report by ABI Research. In addition, an article in Venture Beat citing the report concludes that there will be 1.4 billion smartphones in the world by the end of 2013. This doesn't even include the number of tablets, laptops, and other devices that people use to connect with the Internet. Health companies have been capitalizing on our increased use of mobile devices by developing apps to make health care more accessible and more efficient. By Jamar Ramos
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