Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Technology'.
Found 419 results
-
News Article
IT outages hit thousands of services
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Thousands of GP practices — and some other localised services — are without their IT systems today, due to global outages also affecting banking, media and aviation. All EMIS GP IT systems, which are used by more than half of the 8,000-odd GP practices in England, were down. It was leaving many practices unable to book appointments or consult with patients first thing on Friday morning. This will quickly lead to a backlog of appointments and likely pressure on other urgent care. Patient-facing digital services linked to EMIS also appeared to be down, such as records access via the NHS app. The National Pharmacy Association said some community pharmacy services were down — such as “accessing of prescriptions from GPs and medicine deliveries” were disrupted. It’s unclear if that is also caused by EMIS, or other systems. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 19 July 2024 -
Content Article
If the health and care sector is to safely and securely use and expand digital services, with clinicians becoming ever more dependent on it for the delivery of care, then we must get the basics of digital service delivery right and enable a digitally safe culture. Rob Ludman, Director of Ludman Consulting Ltd, shares the three priorities he feels is needed to tackle this. -
Content Article
The role of patients in the design and assessment of products is increasingly becoming important for product approval. At the June Health Tech Alliance member Meeting, Clive Flashman and Rachel Power presented on engaging patients in digital health innovation. Below is a summary of their presentation and Q&As after. -
Content ArticlePatient safety challenges are exacerbated by healthcare workforce challenges. However, a workplace culture focused on measuring what goes wrong and making changes to address root causes – powered by reporting and analytics technology and encouraged by the example set by top leadership – can address these significant forces impacting care delivery. Today’s healthcare environment demands effective digital tools and a commitment to cultural change, according to Heidi Raines, founder and CEO of Performance Health Partners, a healthcare safety software vendor. Healthcare IT News spoke with Raines about near-miss reporting, and how better analytics and a culture of data-driven leadership can improve patient safety.
-
Content ArticleThe Joint British Diabetes Societies (JBDS) for Inpatient Care group was created in 2008. It aims to improve inpatient diabetes care by developing and promoting high quality evidence-based guidelines and creating better inpatient care pathways. The JBDS–IP group was created and supported by Diabetes UK, ABCD and the Diabetes Inpatient Specialist Nurse (DISN) UK group, and works with NHS England, TREND-UK and with other professional organisations. This webpage contains guidance on a wide range of subjects relating to inpatient care for people with diabetes, including: The hospital management of hypoglycaemia in adults with diabetes mellitus The management of diabetic ketoacidosis in adults Management of adults with diabetes undergoing surgery and elective procedures: improving standards Self-Management of diabetes in hospital Glycaemic management during enteral feeding for people with diabetes in hospital The management of the hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state (HHS) in adults with diabetes Admissions avoidance and diabetes: guidance for clinical commissioning groups and clinical teams Management of hyperglycaemia and steroid (glucocorticoid) therapy The use of variable rate intravenous insulin infusion (VRIII) in medical inpatients Discharge planning for adult inpatients with diabetes Management of adults with diabetes on dialysis Managing diabetes and hyperglycaemia during labour and birth with diabetes The management of diabetes in adults and children with psychiatric disorders in inpatient settings A good inpatient diabetes service Inpatient care of the frail older adult with diabetes Diabetes at the front door The management of glycaemic control in people with cancer COncise adVice on Inpatient Diabetes (COVID:Diabetes) - hyperglycaemia Optimal staffing for a good inpatient diabetes service Using technology to support diabetes care in hospital
-
Content ArticleTrauma remains a leading cause of global mortality and morbidity, necessitating effective trauma care. Despite progress, adverse events during trauma resuscitation persist, impacting patient outcomes and the healthcare system. This study in the American Journal of Surgery aimed to investigate adverse events in trauma resuscitation, evaluate contributing factors, and assess methods, such as trauma video review (TVR), to mitigate adverse events. The authors concluded that trauma video review (TVR) shows promise for identifying adverse events. They identified challenges including ensuring reporting consistency and integrating approaches into existing protocols. They call for future research to prioritise linking trauma team performance to patient outcomes and develop sustainable TVR programs to enhance patient safety.
-
News Article
Virtual wards growth stalls in 2024
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
The expansion and use of virtual ward beds has stalled so far in 2024 after strong growth in the second half of last year, according to analysis of official figures. The number of virtual ward “beds” occupied by patients increased by 38% between July and December 2023. But from the end of 2023 to May 2024, it has increased by less than 1%. The slowdown comes as ring-fenced national funding for virtual wards came to an end in March. The services – which involve the use of tech to care for patients in their own home when they would otherwise be in hospital – must now be drawn from wider urgent and emergency care funding. One integrated care board chief executive told HSJ the national virtual wards programme had become “peripheral” to wider challenges facing the health system, whereas it had previously been treated as a high priority on its own. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 3 July 2024 -
Content ArticleOnline reporting tools are a key component of professional accountability programmes as they allow hospital staff to report co-worker unprofessional behaviour. Ethos is a whole-of-hospital professional accountability programme that includes an online messaging system, which has now been implemented across multiple Australian hospitals. This study examined reported unprofessional behaviour that staff indicated created a risk to patient safety. It included 1310 Ethos submissions reporting co-worker unprofessional behaviour between 2017 and 2020 across eight Australian hospitals. The findings indicate that unprofessional behaviour was associated with risks to patient safety. Co-worker reports about unprofessional behaviour have significant value as they can be used by organisations to better understand how unprofessional behaviour can disrupt work practices and lead to risks to patient safety.
-
Content ArticleThe healthcare systems of nearly every country are straining to keep up with the demands placed on them by advances in both treatment and technology. In this article, Timothy Ferris explores ways in which technology can reduce the burden on already under-resourced healthcare workforces. Acknowledging the complexity of healthcare compared to other industries, and the highly professional nature of the workforce, he uses the concept of 'unit cost' to look at how the financial and time burden associated with healthcare interactions can be reduced.
-
Content ArticleDiagnostic error is largely discovered and evaluated through self-reporting and manual review, which is costly and not suitable for real-time intervention. AI presents new opportunities to use electronic health record data for automated detection of potential misdiagnosis, executed at scale and generalised across diseases. The authors of this study propose a new, automated approach to identifying diagnostic divergence considering both diagnosis and risk of mortality. The aim of this study was to identify cases of misdiagnosis of infectious disease in the emergency department by measuring the difference between predicted diagnosis and documented diagnosis, weighted by mortality. Two machine learning models were trained for prediction of infectious disease and mortality using the first 24 hours of data. Charts were manually reviewed by clinicians to determine whether there could have been a more correct or timely diagnosis.
-
News Article
Council warned over broken alarm after woman dies
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
An assistant coroner has warned an east London council more people may die if it does not take action, after a "frail lady who was prone to falls" died of hypothermia at her home. Anoush Summers, 77, died in hospital in January after a fall days earlier. In a prevention of future deaths report, external, assistant coroner Edwin Buckett said Ms Summers' inquest concluded "the absence of a working wrist alarm prevented her from being found sooner than she was and probably contributed to her death". Ms Summers lived alone but received help from two carers from Supreme Care Services, and she was visited twice a day. After falling at home on 11 January, she was found the next day at 09:00 GMT wearing her wrist alarm and was taken to hospital. She died of hypothermia at Homerton University Hospital on 14 January. The assistant coroner said among issues he identified in her case "giving rise to concern" were: Her wrist alarm had been reported as broken and not working on 6 January, but "this was not replaced or repaired by the company engaged by the local authority", which meant Ms Summers could not call for help as "it did not work" None of the carers who attended her home after the wrist alarm broke on 6 January "ensured that steps were taken to replace the alarm" or reported the matter to the local authority The last carer to see her, who visited on 11 January, "was not aware that the wrist alarm did not work as she had not read the care notes", and "no clear instruction was given" about the extent to which carers should read these notes "None of the carers had been given any training, instruction or guidance on the testing of wrist alarms to ensure they worked properly when attending" There was not a "clear system identified between the company providing carers and the local authority as to the duties and responsibilities of each in the reporting of faults with wrist alarms" Read full story Source: BBC News, 26 June 2024 -
Content Article
NHS Digital: Clinical safety
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Digital health and care service provision
Clinical safety is about keeping patients safe. It applies not only to us in the NHS, or social care organisations, but to you when building healthcare software. The law requires you to ensure your software is clinically safe, which means minimising the potential for harm to patients. This page on the NHS Digital website explains what you need to know about clinical safety when building healthcare software. -
Content ArticleIn the wake of reports linking IT flaws to deaths of patients and the recent cyber attack on pathology services in south east London, Chris Fleming in an article for Digital Health calls for radical change to make digital safer and more effective
-
Content ArticleThis increased implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare could be either great or terrible news for the safety of services, depending on how organisations develop and implement it. This blog, written by the Professional Record Standards Body in partnership with the user experience company HD Labs, looks at the safety risks associated with using AI in health and care and outlines how standards can help keep AI safe.
-
Content ArticleDavid Stockwell is Chief Medical Officer at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is also Chief Clinical Officer at Pascal Metrics, a federally listed Patient Safety Organisation working with the Betsy Lehman Center on a pilot to test the impact of automated safety event monitoring in a diverse set of six-to-eight acute care hospitals in Massachusetts. Stockwell talked with Patient Safety Beat about Pascal’s approach to using electronic data to transform safety.
-
EventuntilMedication errors are a leading cause of injury and avoidable harm in healthcare, with an estimated 1.3 million people impacted in the U.S. each year. Preventable medication errors cost the nation more than $21 billion annually across all care settings, representing a serious public health concern, as well as an economic burden on our healthcare system. Join AHRQ’s expert panel of speakers to hear how quality improvement approaches and digital healthcare interventions such as clinical decision support tools are reducing medication errors, improving provider effectiveness, and enhancing patient safety in a variety of clinical care settings. At the conclusion of this Webinar, participants should be able to: Discuss how an e-prescribing tool can reduce medication discrepancies and improve patient safety by enhancing communication between pharmacists and providers. Identify how clinical decision support systems can significantly reduce the prescribing of potentially inappropriate medications to older patients at the time of discharge from the emergency department setting. Explain how outcome measures, such as the Wrong-Patient Retract-and-Reorder measure, can be developed and used to detect medication errors in electronic orders. Register
-
Content ArticleUse of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is on the rise. Bodies including UK Governments, the National Institute for Health and Care Research and the NHS AI Lab are all investing in developing and deploying the technology. The Patient Information Forum (PIF) is an independent UK membership body for people working in health information and support. Developed in collaboration with PIF’s AI working group, this position statement aims to help members understand the AI landscape and how to manage it.
-
Content Article
Diabetes tech: Do national aspirations and local practice align?
Anonymous posted an article in Diabetes
In this anonymous blog, a person with type 1 diabetes describes their recent experience upgrading their insulin pump, a medical device used to continuously deliver insulin instead of taking multiple daily injections. They describe how communication issues and gaps in staff knowledge led to a significant delay in accessing the pump, which caused them significant stress. They also ask whether recent announcements about increased access to diabetes technology over the next few years will match up to the reality experienced by people with diabetes accessing care at local healthcare organisations. -
Content ArticleMore than four million people have type 2 diabetes in the UK and the use of new technologies is becoming essential for effective diabetes care and patient empowerment. This report by Public Policy Projects (PPP) highlights the benefits of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for people with type 2 diabetes who use insulin, but finds that access remains limited due to stigma and financial barriers. The report contains findings that emerged during the second roundtable of PPP’s System-wide Strategies for Better Diabetes Care programme, which is designed to identify opportunities for improvements and transformation in diabetes care. The roundtable was attended by more than 30 sector leaders from primary and secondary care, pharmacy and integrated care system (ICS) and key industry representatives. The overarching theme was the opportunities and challenges brought by CGM technology to type 2 insulin users and other patient groups. The report finds that primary care staff are under-resourced to deal with the number of new guidelines published, and this is influencing willingness to adopt and push this technology. Also, financial constraints and stigma around the visibility of the sensor are slowing down the effective rollout of the technology across the UK.
-
News Article
Whole health system’s IT goes down
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
HSJ understands that IT systems across the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly ICS went down around midday, prompting the declaration of a major incident. In a statement, a spokesperson for the ICS said the incident was a “local issue” and not a “cyber attack”. As a result of the issue, some planned outpatient appointments, including operations, have been cancelled. The outage is also thought to have contributed to a large ambulance handover backlog. Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Cornwall Partnership NHS Trust, and University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, as well as GP surgeries and community providers, are understood to have been affected by the outage. Read full story (paywalled) Source: 11 June 2024 -
Content ArticleThe relentless increase in administrative responsibilities, amplified by electronic health record (EHR) systems, has diverted clinician attention from direct patient care, fuelling burnout. In response, large language models (LLMs) are being adopted to streamline clinical and administrative tasks. Notably, Epic is currently leveraging OpenAI's ChatGPT models, including GPT-4, for electronic messaging via online portals. The volume of patient portal messaging has escalated in the past 5–10 years, and general-purpose LLMs are being deployed to manage this burden. Their use in drafting responses to patient messages is one of the earliest applications of LLMs in EHRs. Previous works have evaluated the quality of LLMs responses to biomedical and clinical knowledge questions; however, the ability of LLMs to improve efficiency and reduce cognitive burden has not been established, and the effect of LLMs on clinical decision making is unknown. To begin to bridge this knowledge gap, the authors of this study, published in the Lancet, carried out a proof-of-concept end-user study assessing the effect and safety of LLM-assisted patient messaging.
-
Content Article
.jpg.6443187c6826ff4c46345499f65fccda.jpg)
In this blog, Laura Green, Consultant Haematologist at NHS Blood and Transplant and Barts Health NHS Trust, describes how a new electronic process to improve the safety of blood transfusions was implemented across all four Barts Health sites. She explains why the new system was needed, outlines the benefits for staff and patients and highlights the role of project governance and staff training in successful implementation. -
Content ArticleIntravenous drug administration has been associated with severe medication errors in hospitals. This narrative review and aimed to describe the recent evolution in research on systemic causes and defences in intravenous medication errors in hospitals. It highlights a growing interest in systems-based risk management for intravenous drug therapy and in introducing new technology, particularly smart infusion pumps and preparation systems, as systemic defences. The authors conclude that when introducing new technologies, prospective assessment and continuous monitoring of emerging safety risks should be conducted.
-
Content ArticleThis study sought to understand the types of clinical processes, such as image and medication ordering, that are disrupted during electronic health record (EHR) downtime periods by analysing the narratives of patient safety event report data. Patient safety report data offer a lens into EHR downtime–related safety hazards. Important areas of risk during EHR downtime periods were patient identification and communication of clinical information; these should be a focus of downtime procedure planning to reduce safety hazards. The study concluded that EHR downtime events pose patient safety hazards, and the authors highlight critical areas for downtime procedure improvement.
-
Content ArticleThis guide is for trusts who have an electronic patient record system (EPR) already in place and want to realise the transformational opportunities it presents. It focuses on the role of the board in leading these changes. In December 2022, NHS England estimated that over 85% of trusts in England had some form of EPR and set a target for EPRs to be implemented in at least 90% of trusts by December 2023. A well implemented and optimised EPR improves patient safety, staff satisfaction, patient flow and data quality. But this can only be achieved with continuous optimisation and investment. A poor EPR implementation, followed by a lack of investment in its ongoing development, can frustrate staff and create disillusionment. This in turn leads to poor usage and unsafe workarounds. In time this will negatively impact productivity and result in substandard data informing clinical decision making. If you are part of an integrated care system (ICS) looking to share or align EPRs across a number of organisations, this guide will also help you consider issues of convergence, scale and shared governance. It does not address procurement and implementation.
.jpg.6443187c6826ff4c46345499f65fccda.jpg)