Clinical

Timing is everything. You have to know just the right time to catch the wave. In my 26+ year career at Vizient, I have evaluated hundreds of new technologies that have been introduced into health care—some were good; some were bad. But I haven’t used words like “‘transformational” or “disruptive” for pretty much any technology in recent memory, except when it comes to artificial intelligence.

The clinical workforce is your health care organization's greatest resource, driving quality patient outcomes, financial health and serving as the ambassador of the organization's brand. Here are four imperatives essential to every health care organizations’ workforce strategy.

Patients rely on those taking care of them to communicate and collaborate as they manage their care to help ensure the best possible outcome and quick recovery. The best way to do that is by using a nurse-physician dyad—a leadership model incorporating the expertise of both nurses and physicians as leaders of change—which can have a positive impact on quality and safety. Improvements in quality and safety translate into improvements in regulatory compliance. Here are several areas clinical leaders should examine to ensure that their nurse-physician dyad can achieve maximum impact.

Due to expansion in applications and smaller point of care options, the use of ultrasound technology continues to grow. Though many clinicians may be familiar with what ultrasound equipment is, they may not be as familiar with the gel products used to properly operate these systems as well as important infection control practices related to them. Here are three essential considerations to ensure proper infection control practices related to ultrasound gel products.

Back in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began, the needs of our nation’s clinical care teams looked much different than they do today. Here are three prominent considerations, which as part of an organization’s broader workforce strategy, can help shed light on how to retain and ensure a long and positive professional relationship with your clinical staff.

Nurses on the front line are often challenged to document each individual dose adjustment of complicated medication titrations while simultaneously providing emergent/urgent care to patients. Guidance from The Joint Commission provides the option of “block charting” as a documentation method for certain titration orders during urgent or emergent situations. Block charting may save nurses valuable time when seconds matter most but requires advance preparation. Here’s an overview of the guidance as well as some considerations to help you determine if block charting is right for your hospital. 

A variety of factors are increasing the demand for diagnostic imaging at hospitals and health systems across the nation. COVID-19, shifting sites of care, staffing shortages and community outreach are contributing to increasing demand and the need for flexible solutions. As hospitals consider how to best meet this growing demand, many are considering mobile interim diagnostic imaging solutions. If your organization is considering a mobile interim imaging solution, here are some key considerations to select the right solution for your organization. 

As our nation’s newly graduated nurses are collecting their diplomas and celebrating graduations both in person and virtually, health care organizations across the country are preparing to welcome them into practice. I recently reached out to a group of these new nurses via survey as well as personal conversations to learn more about their experiences. What I learned from this group both inspires me and provides important insights into the challenges they faced (and continue to face) and support needed to ensure these nurses not only stay with the profession of nursing, but also grow and thrive professionally.

Are you a clinical leader, new accreditation professional or someone who is tired of performing the traditional “audit” to evaluate regulatory compliance? There has to be a better way, right? There is. You can shift from spending your time behind the computer sifting through emails and medical records, to engaging staff in a meaningful way to evaluate the care treatment and services being provided. Oh, and you will still be able to verify regulatory compliance and check the box on the audit form. Let me introduce you to leadership rounding and the tracer approach.

Over the past year, health care leaders and organizations nationwide have been focused on how best to support health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a workforce that shoulders plenty of burdens in their day-to-day practice, the pandemic blanketed nurses in another layer of stress, uncertainty, fear and distress, but their team is what helped to get them through. That's why during National Nurses Week, we're naming nursing the “team sport of the year”.