When I think about the term “joy in work”, coined by the Institute for Health Improvement, the first thing that comes to mind are my patients and their health. If I feel like I can contribute in some way to overcoming an illness, meeting their health goals, or improving their quality of life, then it makes the long days of work worthwhile. Like anyone else in any other profession, the impact I make through my work keeps me going throughout all the other headaches. That’s why re-prioritizing the
Read More
Integrated Behavioral Health: Expectations vs Realities?
When patients go to the doctor, they’re putting their trust in a highly-trained professional. They trust that professional to provide them with the necessary care and attention to improve or sustain their health.
However, some underlying health issues can’t be detected with a simple blood test or CAT scan. Behavioral health problems can impact every part of a person’s life. Some can develop as a result of physical problems, and vice versa.
This is why the integration of physical and behavioral
Read More
Using Patient Relationship Management Tools to Improve Preventive & Chronic Care
Every year, another 1.5 million people learn they have diabetes. The number of people in the U.S. managing chronic diseases has been growing steadily for several years. In addition, there is more and more pressure on providers to help patients manage these conditions to improve outcomes and avoid complications or readmissions.
The challenge providers face is that visits are short, often just 15 minutes, and patients struggle to retain the information given to them during the appointment.
Read More
The Graveyard of Digital Health, and How to Stay Out of It
- How partnerships are breaking the adoption barrier for digital health.
Collaboration is at the heart of successes over history — in Darwin’s words, “those who learn to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
Yet the healthcare space has been slow to learn that lesson. Far from functioning as a team focused on a single goal, healthcare stakeholders operate on a fractured playing field, each one trying to get to the goal on their own. From that perspective, everyone becomes
Read More
How Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) Boosts Acute Care Quality
Imagine traveling to another country on vacation, only to get terribly ill after consuming seafood at dinner. You experience chills, your hands are curling up and you feel faint all over. Getting to the hospital is a challenge, as you do not speak the native language there. When you arrive at the hospital, all of the medical staff is speaking another language and no one can understand you when you try to tell them your symptoms. You have no understanding of your condition, diagnosis or treatment
Read More
3 Overlooked Ways Digital Health Is Transforming HR And The Workplace
Digital health is growing at an unprecedented rate, hitting a recording-breaking $14 billion in funding in 2018 alone. Healthcare has always been a place for innovation, but pair this remarkable growth with the clinician burnout problem that’s plaguing our industry, and we have an incredibly urgent need for a workplace revolution on our hands.
Here is how technology is playing a role in changing the future of work in healthcare.
Healthcare is becoming more human
We usually associate technology
Read More
Medical Errors: 5 Ways to Combat Mistakes Made by Clinicians
Human error at healthcare organizations is often associated with physicians unintentionally harming patients. While this scenario is common and serious, it’s not the only form of human error that takes place. Human error also happens in administrative roles. And sometimes, the mistakes can be just as damaging as those made in a clinical setting.
In order to improve patient care, healthcare organizations must root out human error in all its forms, whether it takes place on the
Read More
Does Physician Dispensing Contribute To The Opioid Crisis?
According to the Center for Disease Control, an average of 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. Although illicit opiates such as heroin and fentanyl are the primary drivers of the opioid crisis, prescription opiates still play a large role. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 21-29 percent of patients who receive prescriptions for opioids will misuse the drug and 8 to 12 percent of opioid recipients will develop a disorder. Almost all heroin users have misused
Read More
Why Tele-Treatment Will Be The Next Evolution of Telehealth
Ubiquitous mobile technology like cell phones and smart watches play an increasingly important role in our health. You can have a checkup with your physician via the camera on your phone. If your heart rate becomes irregular, your Apple Watch will let you know (proven accuracy notwithstanding). Just the thought of using a wristwatch to monitor your health would have elicited mocking laughter in the not-too-distant past.
Telehealth and wearables have made amazing strides in a short period and
Read More
Can Blockchain Technology Fix Healthcare’s Problems? Not Even Close
Blockchain has been making big waves across healthcare, heralded as the technology that’s going to save healthcare.
The excitement is understandable. Just about every segment of healthcare is fragmented — almost to the point of dysfunction. What better way to bind it together than via a digital ledger that affords the ability to securely, privately, and comprehensively track health records? It’s compelling — and it seems healthcare is ready to move full speed ahead with blockchain.
Is
Read More
