Christina's Considerations

New Health IT Toolkit for Rural Providers

A new online toolkit will serve as a pilot program for providing health information technology (HIT) resources to rural health care providers. The toolkit was developed by the Rural Assistance Center and the National Rural Health Resource Center and is... Read more →

Patient Safety Toolkits from AHRQ

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has sets of toolkits designed to help health care institutions and clinicians provide—and consumers receive—safe, quality health care at various points in the health care process—in the hospital, in the emergency department,... Read more →

The Patient's Checklist

I've always promoted self and family advocacy in healthcare situations. As an administrator, I strive to create and environment for the patient to get the best and safest care possible. However, the healthcare system is heavily dependent upon humans and... Read more →

Foursquare in Healthcare

I've been checking in on Foursquare for several months just to experience the technology and think about how it can be applied in healthcare environments. Healthcare IT News had an article on 5 reasons for medical practices to use FourSquare.... Read more →

HIE for Consumers

Will from Redwood MedNet sent me a powerful video from Health Information Partnership for Tennessee. The video will help consumers learn and understand more about why health information exchange is important. In the video, I was pleased to see an... Read more →

HIE Guide for CIOs

CHIME and eHealth Initiative have joined forces to create a Health Information Exchange (HIE) Guide for CIOs. The guide looks to be fairly comprehensive, starting with the background of HIE and continuing to key contract elements with a Health Information... Read more →

Social Media Risks

ECRI has a fairly comprehensive overview and guide on social media that includes some great advice for hospital and other provider human resource managers. There is also an interesting bit of information related to passwords and data security (see page... Read more →

Engaging Staff with Social Media

The Nov/Dec 2011 issue of Healthcare Executive includes an article I wrote for the Satisfying Your Customers column, titled Engaging Staff with Social Media. In the article I describe how successful leaders will prepare for the shifts occurring in the... Read more →

Is Age Just a Number, or a Challenge to Widespread HIT Adoption?

I was interviewed for a recent article in Becker's Hospital Review that explores the common belief that older adults have more difficulty accepting and using technology. It includes some great comments about "digital natives" and "digital immigrants" by the other... Read more →

Candy Stripers and Junior Volunteers

I've posted on the subject of volunteers, young people working in hospitals and those considering a career in healthcare administration, previously. However, this last week, I've been specifically researching Candy Stripers, who are sometimes referred to as Junior Volunteers. Candy... Read more →

ACP Ethics Manual on Social Media, Catastrophes, and More

The American College of Physicians has released an update to its Ethics Manual and new or expanded sections include, among others, confidentiality and electronic health records, health system catastrophes, boundaries and privacy, social media and online professionalism. I really appreciate... Read more →

Report on Hospital Acquired Infection in CA Released

Healthcare-associated infection data on all hospitals in Califorinia has been released by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). This means anyone can see the nosocomial infection rates of their local hospital by unit. But, I urge some caution among... Read more →

Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast

I participated in this morning's Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast. Gartner, the technology research giant, brought together some wonderful speakers who shared information that I feel is important to healthcare -- especially at this moment in time. The issues will... Read more →

Low Health Literacy: Impact on Costs

The American College of Physicians has a YouTube video that demonstrates the impact of low health literacy on the healthcare delivery system and costs. Healthcare administrators and clinicians should view this video to see the challenges for themselves. Notice the... Read more →

Top 11 Trends for 2012 in Healthcare Data

A look ahead at healthcare data points to increased risks, regulatory expectations and reputational fallout. So it was a pleasure that I could contribute to a list of the top 10 trends for 2012 in healthcare data. And, I really... Read more →

NIMS: Guidance for HPP 2012

The NIMS objectives for hospitals have been reduced from 14 to 11 and there is some new clarification and guidance. The changes, effective July 1, 2012, include: Combining Object s 8 & 10: Promote and ensure that hospital processes, equipment,... Read more →

Employee Makes Fun of Patient on Facebook

When will our employees learn not to identify patients on Facebook or any other social media site. This recent example goes beyond a simple error in judgment to a complete disregard for patient privacy and respect by the employee of... Read more →

Cool Map of Hospital Social Media Use

Ed Bennet has a really cool map displaying social media use by hospitals. If you haven't already, you should visit his blog Found in Cache, which includes some great hospital social media resources. Thanks for sharing your list and the... Read more →

Company Sues Former Employee Over Twitter Account

Here is a new example of where having a comprehensive social media policy will come in handy for minimizing risks and associated legal costs. It involves an employee who left an Internet company and took a Twitter account being used... Read more →