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We recently asked hospital-based nurses to tell us about their communication challenges at work. No surprise, really, they said easier communication would improve patient care and satisfaction, improve productivity and save as much as 10 hours of overtime per week. But they also said they don’t have the communication technology and devices they need to do their jobs. You have to step back and ask yourself “why not?”
Here’s my thought about “why not.” It’s been ten years—yes, ten years—since the Institute of Medicine published To Err is Human. It was the shot heard ‘round the healthcare world. We heard the alarming statistics about avoidable medical errors and immediately focused on CPOE, bar-code medication administration, and EHRs to save lives. And now, with ARRA, we have “all-hands-on deck” to deploy EHRs
Almost everyone these days is talking about the high cost of healthcare, and has a favorite idea or two about how to fix it. In Washington, this is leading to discussions about new ways to provide health insurance with a push toward universal coverage as the answer for ending the problem of the uninsured – which at last count was 46 million US citizens, or 18% of the population under the age of 65.
In the following article, author Carey Kriz looks at the question of health insurance and whether we really understand the situation that we as a country have created. More importantly, he offers his thoughts about what will be required to correct the problem. As always, we’re asking for your input.
Thanks for all your comments on Carey Kriz’s first posting, A Disappearing Species, and we look forward to hearing from you again. The stakes on this next debate are high for all of us.
In his entry Rebuilding the Past as the Future of Healthcare Services, Carey Kriz asks a good question about our primary care system. Before diving into the answers, we need to make sure the question is clear. The term primary care means many things to many people. It is at once being expanded by public policy and narrowed by medical advances.
In the Developed world as well as the Developing world, the notion of primary healthcare is being expanded by public policy and funding discussions that make it difficult to draw the line between public health, illness care and social services. Is the cost of long term nursing home care for a patient disabled by a spinal cord injury or dementia a healthcare cost or a housing cost? Is the cost of providing clean water to prevent disease a healthcare issue or a public works issue? The more expansive the definition the more ill suited high acuity care delivery appears suited to address the problem. That is not an indictment of hospitals; it is a problem of definition.
I am pleased to introduce well-known healthcare expert, Carey Kriz, as he shares his thoughts on rebuilding the past as the future of healthcare services.
The front end of the healthcare system is one of the most precious assets we have in our country. Often undervalued and overlooked in a time of intense technologies and discovery, the primary care provider has been the historic army we used to challenge individual disease – and the conduit for relationships in the overall maze of our health community.
Unfortunately, primary care is a long way from the artificial reality of television and the movies, with declining numbers and really bad morale hitting the field in record numbers.
How do we rebuild it? How can we extend and enhance its mission? And what role will technology play in its future?
Read the full article “A DISAPPEARING SPECIES” and add your comments and ideas to this web site. It’s time for all of us to become the authors of the next chapter of the health industry.
I’m Dr. Kaveh Safavi, the Global Lead of Cisco’s Healthcare Practice and I want to welcome you to Cisco’s new healthcare blog. Be sure to watch John Chambers’ video (right) to hear what John has to say about the importance of healthcare transformation.
Over the course of the coming months we will be framing the overarching issues facing our healthcare community – and looking for the “Wisdom of Crowds” to help find the answers. Noted healthcare author, Carey Kriz, will be pulling together his ideas (and yours if you’re willing to share them) into a publication, which he will unveil through a series of weekly blogs and this website. And you have the chance to become part of the writing team.
Posted by Frances Dare at 08:55AM PST
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