A new survey conducted by Sage Growth Partners revealed that a vast majority of nurses feel overwhelmed with supply management tasks and are looking for better software tools to help alleviate the burden. The survey reached out to over 100 nurses – 50 nurse leaders and 50 front-line nurses – and asked them a series […]
Nurses Face Severe Challenges With Supply Chain Issues Read More »
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a letter to healthcare providers warning about the risk of infection associated with poorly reprocessed urological endoscopes. The letter from the FDA mentions that there have been over 450 Medical Device Reports filed by healthcare facilities that detail the patient infections associated with contaminated cystoscopes,
FDA Issues New Warning About Infection Risks From Urological Endoscopes Read More »
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its list of penalized hospitals for 2021 under its Hospital-Acquired Conditions Reduction Program. This year’s list includes 774 hospitals that will have their Medicare payments cut by 1% for the remainder of the year. The 774 hospitals represent the bottom quartile of hospitals in terms
Endoscopes with disposable components, as well as fully disposable endoscopes, have been introduced recently to reduce the risk of contamination of endoscopes between procedures. A recent study looked at the quality of duodenoscopes with disposable elevator caps (DEC) to see how they performed when utilized by endoscopists who are used to utilizing traditional duodenoscopes. The
Study Of Endosopes With Disposable Elevator Caps Shows Great Promise Read More »
Hospitals are beginning to spend a lot of time planning for a post-Covid environment. However, one lasting effect of Covid-19 will be the constant focus on infectious diseases and preventing the next pandemic from occurring. Endoscopes, as instruments that have been linked with many superbug outbreaks in the recent past, need another look to make
Why Infection Preventionists Must Keep A Closer Eye On Endoscope Reprocessing Read More »
A pair of recent studies highlighted the extraordinary amount of time that US clinicians spend documenting their encounters in electronic health records (EHRs). While previous studies have looked at the general amount of time that clinicians spend documenting in EHRs, these particular studies looked at the gap between US-based clinicians and clinicians based in other
As DNV GL Healthcare (DNV), The Joint Commission (TJC) and other accreditation organizations continue to utilize virtual surveys in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, many hospitals are scrambling to prepare their documentation for virtual audits. These accreditation visits are crucial to hospitals that require successful surveys in order to receive funds from the Centers
Expect More Virtual Accreditation Surveys As Pandemic Rages On Read More »
Covid-19’s recent resurgence is straining already struggling hospitals that were showing recovery signs in the 3rd quarter of 2020. With the increasing infection rates of Covid-19 around the country during the holiday season, a combination of voluntary and forced reductions of elective procedures is negatively impacting hospitals’ bottom line. Hospital operating margins suffered severely during
Fitch Ratings Foresees Dark Days Ahead For Hospitals Read More »
Olympus recently issued an Urgent Field Safety Notice regarding the usage of its Endoscopic Ultrasound Endoscopes (EUS). The recall from Olympus comes on the heels of several potential safety issues regarding endoscope reprocessing over the past several years. All of the major endoscope manufacturers had gone through several rounds of notices regarding the usage and
Olympus Warns That Its EUS Scopes May Pose Infection Risk Read More »
With infectious diseases in the spotlight due to the recent surge of Covid-19 in the United States, hospitals must do all they can to ensure the highest levels of effectiveness of their disinfection and sterilization protocols. With this in mind, hospitals need to re-examine their endoscope reprocessing protocols to ensure they meet the highest standards,
Hospitals Need To Take Another Look At Their Endoscope Disinfection Protocols Read More »