Problems persist with HHS emergency-preparedness goals
Editor's Note According to a May 14 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is continuing with the persistent, systemic problems that impaired its ability to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other public health crises, such as H1N1 influenza, Zika,…
Virtual reality & artificial intelligence: Future of nontechnical skills training
Editor's Note Researchers led by Florida A&M University and Florida State University in Tallahassee propose multi-learner virtual reality (VR) environments assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) as effective alternatives to facility-based training for nontechnical skills. As failure to communicate is cited as the reason for 22% of preventable complications in the…
Conversation-focused training may help HCWs combat vaccine hesitancy
Editor's Note The biggest obstacle to achieving 100% vaccination rate in the US is no longer whether vaccines will be manufactured fast enough, or if there will be enough for the country’s population, Lisa Doggett, senior medical director at HGS AxisPoint Health, told Health Leaders March 8. “Rather, it's concerns…
Survey: Impact of children’s mental health on the workforce
Editor's Note This national study titled, “The Great Collide: The impact of children’s mental health on the workforce,” by researchers at On Our Sleeves finds that the children’s mental health crisis brought to attention by the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic is having a direct impact on parent’s work performance.…
Telehealth accounted for 8% of outpatient visits a year into pandemic
Editor's Note A new report published by KFF-Epic Research found that telehealth still represents a substantial share of healthcare delivery despite its use having decreased somewhat from the high seen at the start of the pandemic, the February 16 Healthcare Purchasing News reports. The research presents data from more than…
Patients rate telehealth physician visits favorably during COVID-19 pandemic
Editor's Note This study by UCLA researchers finds patient experiences with telehealth physician appointments during the COVID-19 pandemic were as positive as traditional face-to-face visits and phone visits, or even more so. The researchers surveyed 58,509 adult patients on their 13,928 primary care and 44,581 specialty physician visits at 197…
Allan Sendaydiego: Answering the call to lead
What happens to you when you become a new manager? “You become a jack of all trades and master of none. You need to practice true collaboration and rely upon your team members,” says Allan Sendaydiego, BSN, RN, interim director for anesthesia and interventional radiology at Kaiser Permanente. In this…
Socioeconomic differences in telemedicine use for ambulatory surgical care during COVID-19
Editor's Note This study from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that Black patients used telemedicine platforms more often than White patients for ambulatory surgical care during Phase 2 of COVID-19. During Phase 1 (March 24 through June 23), there were 347 in-person and 638 virtual…
Battle Buddies help healthcare workers with mental resilience
Having a “Battle Buddy” has helped US Army soldiers maintain resilience for years, and now the practice has been adopted to help healthcare workers at the University of Minnesota Medical Center in Minneapolis deal with COVID-19-related stress. A multidisciplinary team from the University of Minnesota’s department of anesthesiology and department…
Building a diverse workforce: Part 1
The call for a diverse workforce echoes in ORs across the US. Although most OR leaders want to answer the call, they struggle in an environment where OR staff, particularly nurses, are in high demand. OR Manager recently spoke with experts from leadership, human resources, and DEI (diversity, equity, and…
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- Report: Healthcare ransomware compromises millions of patient records, costs billions in downtime