Are you one that needs to be counted? The Nursing Consortium of South Florida, a founding strategic partner of the Nurses on Boards Coalition, is currently collaborating on a national effort to identify every nurse serving on a board of directors. If you are currently serving on a board of any entity, please click here now to complete a brief web form. Jason Dunne, Chamberlain University campus president and the Consortium’s principal liaison to the NOBC, recently remarked, “if there is something that we’ve learned from this pandemic it’s the importance of having nurses at the table as key decisions are made.” Derrick Glymph, FIU’s DNP Anesthesia Curriculum Coordinator and chair of a Consortium Advisory Council Workgroup that studied how to increase nurse participation on local boards noted, “we learned that it is not just healthcare organizations whose boards benefit from have having a nurse as a director, but a wide range of organizations including community organizations, foundations, and corporations. Nurse leaders have significant budgetary, human resources, and crisis management experience along with highly developed communication skills.” All boards can benefit from having the unique perspective of nurse leaders in vetting market opportunities, advancing objectives, and addressing the needs of their customers, employees and other stakeholders in a sustainable fashion. If you are a nurse presently serving on a board, any board, please click here to be counted today. If you are interested in learning about opportunities to serve on a board, please click here. Become a part of the 10,000 Nurses on Boards Initiative in 2020.
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Pfizer expects to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine by Fall 2020
A report in Time magazine, based on an interview by Eben Shapiro with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, states that the pharmaceutical company could get FDA approval as early as October for a coronavirus vaccine. According to the report, Pfizer has increased its plans to produce vaccine doses this year from tens of millions to 100 million, and the company is talking with governments around the world to determine how many doses will be needed globally. The Pfizer vaccine is being developed in partnership with BioNTech, a German company. Pfizer is ready to start a large-scale clinical trial later in July involving 30,000 subjects at 150 locations over the test period. Other pharma companies are also in the race for a successful vaccine. According to the Milken Institute there are more than 100 vaccines and nearly 200 treatments now in development. |
eBook: Navigating Patient Communications During the COVID-19 Pandemic
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to transform the healthcare landscape, providers are relying on technology to adapt and innovate the way they deliver care. In this altered environment, healthcare organizations must implement and communicate new procedures to keep patients safe and informed. A new eBook available free from Intrado summaries best practices for providers leveraging automated notifications in a variety of ways to quickly and effectively engage patients. These notification technologies will also play a key role in recovering from the financial impact of missed,delayed and canceled appointments.
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Cleveland Clinic researchers find rise in broken heart syndrome
during pandemic
Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic have discovered a significant increase in patients experiencing stress cardiomyopathy, also known as “broken heart syndrome”, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stress cardiomyopathy occurs in response to physical or emotional distress and causes dysfunction or failure in the heart muscle. Patients typically experience symptoms similar to a heart attack, such as chest pain and shortness of breath, but usually do not have acutely blocked coronary arteries. The left ventricle of the heart,however, may show enlargement. Other symptoms include irregular heartbeat,fainting, low blood pressure and cardiogenic shock (an inability of the heart to pump enough blood to meet the body’s demands due to the impact of stress hormones on the cells of the heart). According to Ankur Kalra, M.D., a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist in the Sections of Invasive and Interventional Cardiology and Regional Cardiovascular Medicine, who led the study, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about multiple levels of stress in people’s lives across the country and world. People are not only worried about themselves or their families becoming ill, they are dealing with economic and emotional issues, societal problems and potential loneliness and isolation. The stress can have physical effects on our bodies and our hearts, as evidenced by the increasing diagnoses of stress cardiomyopathy at the Cleveland Clinic. The causes of stress cardiomyopathy, also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, are not fully understood. However, physicians believe that a person’s reaction to physically or emotionally stressful events causes a release of stress hormones that temporarily reduce the heart’s ability to pump – causing it to contract less efficiently or irregularly instead of in a steady, normal pattern. To read more, please click here.
Cleveland Clinic Florida is a Consortium member organization.
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Embracing the COVID-19 Disruption: Defining the Future of Hospitals
In the wake of COVID-19, health system leaders have realized the urgent need for a more modern, digital way of connecting patients to care. And while many have pivoted quickly and launched innovative programs to improve access, few have full visibility into the impact of their efforts. Relatedly, it can be difficult to know which metrics to prioritize to track the performance of patient experience initiatives and optimize them to streamline access to care long term. A new white paper, from Vituity suggests six foundational metrics as key to: - Assess patient perceptions of interactions with your health system
- Determine how well you’re meeting consumer demand for convenient and timely access
- Spot ways to streamline appointment scheduling process–online and over the phone
- Track the impact of patient experience initiatives over time
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Nicklaus Children's Hospital promotes summer safety tips for families
As children transition from virtual learning to summer routines, parents and guardians need to be aware that with more free time comes an increase in unintentional injuries. While seasonal injury risks associated with summer occur annually, experts have noted a spike in these events this year, due to families social distancing at home. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, a Consortium member organization, is advising caregivers to be aware of the leading causes of non-intentional injuries and the safety practices that can help prevent them. Malvina Duncan,Injury Prevention Coordinator at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital and Safe Kids Coordinator for Miami-Dade points out that many parents are working from home and are unable to watch the children the entire time. Equally important is that grandparents, family members and friends who help watch children may not be aware of dangers in their own homes. Tragically, Florida has seen a 37.5 percent increase in drowning fatalities compared to this time last year. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital hopes to help combat this trend by promoting awareness among parents and guardians. The hospital is stressing these top summer safety tips: - Children should always be actively supervised when in or around bodies of water. Use barriers such as a pool fence, and lock doors that lead to any body of water.
- Parents and other guardians need to remember that drowning is a silent event. Only close observation of children in the water by responsible adults can prevent drownings.
- While in the yard or out for a stroll; remember to play safely; use age-appropriate toys and safety equipment such as helmets when using bikes, scooters, skates,etc.
- Keep small items and toys, as well as cords, away from small children to prevent choking and strangulation.
- Store household cleaning products and medication out of reach and use only as directed by manufacturer or as prescribed by medical provider.
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AHA, AMA and ANA urge public to wear masks
The American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association have drafted a joint statement urging Americans to wear masks to stop the spread of COVID-19. Nurses everywhere can help by encouraging others to do the right thing and by modeling responsible and caring behavior. Lets stop the spread by caring for ourselves and others by wearing a mask. |
Philips and BioIntelliSense collaborate to enhance remote patient monitoring technology
Royal Philips (Amsterdam), a global leader in health technology, is collaborating with BiointelliSense, a continuous health monitoring company, to integrate that company’s FDA cleared BioSticker™ sensor as part of its remote patient monitoring solutions for patients outside the hospital. This addition of multi-parameter sensors will aid monitoring across multiple chronic conditions with medical-grade vital signs for physicians to remotely track core symptoms, including COVID-19. Clinicians can track patient populations in their homes with passive monitoring of key vital signs, physiological biometrics and symptomatic events via a discreet wearable patch for monitoring up to 30 days. Remote patient monitoring and telehealth-enabled clinical programs offer care teams a sustainable and scalable way to manage patient populations with chronic or complex conditions at home, and plays a key role in supporting care for COVID-19 patients who do not require hospitalization. Please click here to read more.
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NIH merges capabilities of four clinical trials networks in large-scale effort to test COVID-19 vaccines
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has established a new clinical trials network that aims to enroll thousands of volunteers in large-scale clinical trials testing a variety of investigational vaccines and monoclonal antibodies intended to protect people from COVID-19. The COVID-19 Prevention Trials Network (COVPN) was established by merging four existing NIAID-funded clinical trials networks: the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN),based in Seattle; the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), based in Durham,N.C.; the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC), based in Atlanta; and the AIDS Clinical Trials Group, based in Los Angeles. Those individual networks will continue to perform clinical trials for HIV vaccine and prevention and other infectious diseases in addition to their new COVID roles. HHS Secretary Alex Azar said that establishing a unified clinical trial network is a key element of President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, which aims to deliver substantial quantities of a safe, effective vaccine by January 2021. For more, please click here.
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The BioSticker medical device is designed to be worn on the upper left chest for easy remote data capture and a “stick it on and forget it” patient experience. |
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Allscripts, Microsoft strike 5-year
cloud partnership to enhance EHR software
by Heather Landi, Senior Editor for Health IT, Fierce Healthcare
Allscripts is extending its partnership with Microsoft to tap into the tech giant's cloud and analytics technology to enhance its electronic health record software. The two companies say they are developing a "next-generation EHR" to enable physicians to move between devices and creates a more human-centric experience. Please click here to read more.
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Cricket Health CEO: Progress often comes in trying times by Arvind Rajan, CEO Cricket Health. Published in Fierce Healthcare, Industry Voices
A year ago, the Department of Health and Human Services launched the Advancing Kidney Health Initiative. Today, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are in need of a revolution in kidney care during a trying time.
The
pandemic has plunged our lives, and our healthcare system, into an
unprecedented challenge. Given this complication, major healthcare reforms, especially
those for chronic, non-emergent conditions, could easily become delayed
indefinitely. The pandemic’s strain on our
nation’s healthcare system
has confirmed, however, that we cannot shy away
from bold action that is greatly needed. Please click here to read more.
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HHS adopts changes to improve care coordination for substance abuse patients by Heather Landi, Senior Editor for Health IT, Fierce Healthcare
The Trump administration has revised privacy restrictions on patients' substance use treatment records to improve care coordination. The updated rule is designed to support better care coordination and reduce provider burden while maintaining privacy safeguards for patients, HHS officials said. Please click here to read more.
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