This post, Three Key Recommendations to Improve HIPAA Compliance, first appeared on https://thedoctorweighsin.com. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandates industry-wide standards for proper management of health care information and electronic billing. HIPAA compliance requires protection as well as the confidential handling of all protected health information (PHI). According to HIPAA rules, any company that deals with protected information must have a physical network and security measures that are followed to ensure compliance. […]

This post, Safety first: Protecting health care workers and patients, first appeared on https://www.devex.com. Needlestick injuries, or NSIs, among health care workers remain a global burden. Accurate data is difficult to ascertain as injuries often go unreported even to this date. The World Health Organization estimated that among the 35 million health care workers worldwide, about 3 million receive percutaneous exposures to bloodborne pathogens each year; 2 million of those to hepatitis B, 0.9 million to hepatitis […]

This post, Is texting at work acceptable for nurses?, first appeared on https://www.nurse.com/. A nurse reader asked what she should do about a personal text message she sent to her husband’s ex-wife. The reader did not include what she sent the ex-wife, but whatever the message, her employer charged her with “improper telephone communication” for texting at work. The reader’s supervisor told her the ex-wife personally came to the hospital to complain about the text […]

This post, Facing Escalating Workplace Violence, Hospital Employees Have Had Enough, first appeared on https://www.npr.org/. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, incidents of serious workplace violence are four times more common in health care than in private industry. Most assaults come from patients and patients’ families.   Across the U.S., many doctors, nurses and other health care workers have remained silent about what is being called an epidemic of violence against them.   The […]

This post, Designing a Better Ambulance, first appeared on https://www.emsworld.com. Today’s ambulances are far from perfect. For instance, “the cab area is filled with operational distractions and frequently too crowded for comfort or safety,” says Tracey Loscar, EMS operations chief for the Mat-Su Borough Department of Emergency Services in Wasilla, Alaska. “Meanwhile, the patient compartment has limited ability to protect the crew from impact injuries, specifically closed head injuries.” But what if ambulances could be […]

This post, A Secure Healthcare Prescription, first appeared on https://securitytoday.com. Hospitals are improving security, operational efficiencies, and patient safety By Courtney Dillon   Pedersen Hospitals and other healthcare facilities face unique security and surveillance challenges. These often large, multi-building/multi-level facilities operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, year-round—there is no downtime allowed for their operation.   In most cases, these environments are fairly open with staff members, patients and their families, vendors, emergency […]

This post, Four ways to manage healthcare waste sustainably, first appeared on https://www.eco-business.com. The progress of modern medicine in the recent years has been astounding. A wearable pancreas is already increasingly common, continuously monitoring blood sugar levels and dispensing insulin as needed. Soon, we may even be able to finely edit our DNA, using molecular scissors to snip out genetic defects. But as global healthcare charges forward, it leaves behind a waste crisis waiting to explode. […]

This post, Accidental Needlesticks: The Silent Killer, first appeared on https://www.physiciansweekly.com. By Karen Daley   We all know that doctors and nurses work long hours under trying conditions, particularly in hospital emergency rooms, to save lives and bring healing and comfort to the sick.   What too many people do not know is that healthcare workers face a potential silent killer every day that is so common it is routinely overlooked and ignored: accidental needlesticks.   […]

This post, Why HIPAA matters: The toll of privacy breaches and compromised health data, first appeared on https://www.dentistryiq.com. Knowledge is power, and nowadays this is truer than ever. The move to a digital economy has facilitated the explosion of information consumption. Knowledge about customers, patients, and employees has enabled health-care organizations to personalize products and services and make decisions that meet their needs, but perhaps not the needs of their patients. The insights health-care entities have […]