Are Hospital-Acquired Infection Rates Improving? New Report Shows Mixed Results 06/22/2018 About 2 million Americans will develop an infection during their hospital stay each year, and these infections result in approximately 90,000 preventable deaths. The imperative for the last 2 decades has been to increase inpatient safety. This spawned new efforts to improve hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates. It even resulted in lower reimbursement rates from Medicare and commercial payers for patients who were readmitted shortly after hospital discharge. Year by year, these efforts were
About 2 million Americans will develop an infection during their hospital stay each year, and these infections result in approximately 90,000 preventable deaths. The imperative for the last 2 decades has been to increase inpatient safety. This spawned new efforts to improve hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates. It even resulted in lower reimbursement rates from Medicare and commercial payers for patients who were readmitted shortly after hospital discharge. Year by year, these efforts were
New Targeted Prevention of Migraine Attacks 05/21/2018 The treatment of migraine has come a long way in a short time, and the approval of a new type of once-monthly therapy should help patients prevent some painful, disabling attacks. Modern treatment of acute migraine headache began in 1992, with the approval of sumatriptan (Imitrex®), the first triptan medication. For patients with frequent migraine headache, preventive therapy was extremely limited—at that time, barely researched. The patients with migraine experience debilitating symptoms and
The treatment of migraine has come a long way in a short time, and the approval of a new type of once-monthly therapy should help patients prevent some painful, disabling attacks. Modern treatment of acute migraine headache began in 1992, with the approval of sumatriptan (Imitrex®), the first triptan medication. For patients with frequent migraine headache, preventive therapy was extremely limited—at that time, barely researched. The patients with migraine experience debilitating symptoms and
Interview with Sara Laskey, MD, Chief Experience Officer, MetroHealth System 05/01/2018 Patient Journeys: How did your previous experience help prepare you for the position of patient experience officer? Sara Laskey, MD: I’ve had a wide and varied professional life. You may not be aware of this, but I was a circus clown! I also studied with Second City improvisation, and in college, my major involved theatrical performance studies. All of this helped me to develop a really good sense of humor, and to empathize, be sensitive to other people, and to “read” people—to see where they’re
Patient Journeys: How did your previous experience help prepare you for the position of patient experience officer? Sara Laskey, MD: I’ve had a wide and varied professional life. You may not be aware of this, but I was a circus clown! I also studied with Second City improvisation, and in college, my major involved theatrical performance studies. All of this helped me to develop a really good sense of humor, and to empathize, be sensitive to other people, and to “read” people—to see where they’re
