The Efficient MD describes how the Ambient Orb, a “glancable internet appliance,” can be configured to monitor the number of patients waiting in the ED. One hospital has already installed the orb, which glows color-coded updates on ED waiting room occupancy.
Archive for December, 2007
ED Efficiency Tool: The Ambient Orb
December 12th, 2007 by Melanie MatthewsYear in Healthcare Ideas (Excerpts from the NY Times List)
December 11th, 2007 by Melanie MatthewsI always look forward to the annual New York Times Magazine “Year in Ideas” issue, which appeared on Sunday. Of the 70 ideas presented this year, at least seven have direct applications for health coaches, disease managers and caregivers:
Alzheimers’ 50-Question Telephone Screening
This year, researchers completed work on a 50-question telephone quiz to help them identify Alzheimer’s patients long before they exhibit typical symptoms. Such a quiz may soon become part of regular medical care.
The Appendix Rationale
For years, the appendix got no respect. Doctors regarded it as nothing but a source of trouble: It didn’t seem to do anything, and it sometimes got infected and required an emergency removal. Plus, nobody ever suffered from not having an appendix. So human biologists assumed that the tiny, worm-shaped organ is vestigial — a shrunken remainder of some organ our ancestors required. In a word: Useless.
Now that old theory has been upended. In a December issue of The Journal of Theoretical Biology, a group of scientists announce they have solved the riddle of the appendix.
Hope Can Be Worse Than Hopelessness
People often display a remarkable ability to adapt to adversity, bouncing back to their usual levels of happiness despite extreme hardships. But people don’t always rebound, and scientists have long wondered what factors might account for the difference. In a talk at Harvard in September, a team of researchers suggested that one obstacle to emotional recovery, oddly enough, is hope — the belief that your current hardship is temporary.
Mindful Exercise
Simply by telling 44 hotel maids that what they did each day involved some serious exercise, the Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer and Alia J. Crum, a student, were apparently able to lower the women’s blood pressure, shave pounds off their bodies and improve their body-fat and “waist to hip” ratios. Self-awareness, it seems, was the women’s elliptical trainer.
Quitting Can Be Good for You
But new research suggests that success — or more specifically, the persistence required to achieve hard-to-reach goals — may not be worth it. In a paper published in the September issue of the journal Psychological Science, Gregory Miller of the University of British Columbia and Carsten Wrosch of Concordia University found that teenage girls who are unable to disengage themselves from trying to attain hard-to-reach goals exhibited increased levels of the inflammatory molecule C-reactive protein (C.R.P.), which in adults is linked with diabetes, heart disease and early aging.
Right to Medical Self-Defense
Citing the concept of “medical self-defense,” U.C.L.A. law professor Eugene Volokh contended that a dying American should have the right to buy any drug that has passed the F.D.A.’s preliminary safety tests. Currently, the F.D.A. insists that most terminally ill patients await, like everyone else, full proof of a drug’s safety and efficacy.
Two Birds with One Stone Resistance
To kill two birds with one stone — what could be better? But it turns out that if you have just one goal in mind, chances are you’ll actually be less inclined to take a path that also happens to serve other goals. Foolishly, you’ll resist the more advantageous approach…What happens, the researchers showed through other studies, is that connecting one tool or method to multiple goals weakens the mental association between that means and any one goal. Take jogging, for instance. Participants in one study were informed that jogging both strengthens muscles and increases the body’s level of oxygen. But after the researchers subliminally reinforced the participants’ association between jogging and one of those goals — strengthening muscles — participants irrationally deemed jogging less effective for boosting oxygen.
Disease Management Update: Workplace Wellness
December 7th, 2007 by Melanie MatthewsIt may take a village to raise a child, but according to healthcare professionals like Gregg Lehman, president and CEO of HealthFitness, and David Chenoweth, president of Chenoweth & Associates Inc., it takes a workplace to maintain good health. Whether it is support and participation from the C-suite or competition from fellow co-workers, such measures are proven to drive participation and results in wellness and disease management programs.
This week’s Disease Management Update showcases a recent HIN interview with Lehman and reports what one health and wellness company is doing to promote workplace wellness.
Prepping Patients for Electronic Health Records
December 7th, 2007 by Melanie MatthewsMy hair salon can now print me a listing of my appointments for the coming months and will soon launch an e-mail appointment reminder service. Now if only my healthcare providers would do the same.
Much has been written/blogged about the adoption rate among physicians of electronic health records. Depending on who you talk to or read, anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent of physicians already use or soon plan to adopt this technology in their offices. While cost and IT support still pose barriers, it’s pretty much a foregone industry conclusion that most providers will use them eventually. From EHRs it’s only a small step to other IT-enhanced customer services.
But who’s prepping patients for this eventuality? I recently came across this survey from Allen L. Pelletier, MD, FAAFP, Greggory R. Sutton and Raymond R. Walker, MD, MBA at the American Academy of Family Physicians site. The survey, downloadable as a PDF and easily adaptable to a physician’s practice, is designed to help providers gauge patients’ readiness for EHRs.
The sample survey, which can be mailed to patients’ homes, asks patients whether and how they access the Internet and e-mail, if they would like to receive medical information via e-mail, and if so, which types (appointment reminders, e-newsletters, medication refills, test results, physician responses to simple health-related questions, etc.).
The survey is a great starting point and can be tailored to the practice’s (and patients’) needs. Health plans might administer it to members as well. Beyond the questions suggested in this survey, you might also target Gen-X and Gen-Y patient needs by asking if they use Health 2.0 tools such as social networking sites, and whether they’d like information and reminders via text messages sent to their cell phones.
The AAFP survey was well received at the doctors’ practice. Here’s what the doctos said about it:
The results of our survey convinced us that patients are ready to begin using the Internet to communicate with our practice. The patients we surveyed were enthusiastic about receiving appointment reminders by e-mail, scheduling appointments online and receiving test results electronically, and we are planning to offer each of these services in the near future.
If your practice hasn’t begun using the Internet to connect with patients, a survey such as ours is a great starting point. If you already use electronic communication with patients, a patient survey can help you refine your approach. You might be surprised, as we were, to discover that many of your patients use public Internet and e-mail resources or share them with others. It’s important to know this so that you can design protocols for dealing with private or protected health information in electronic communication. Your survey results will also help you identify the services your patients want (e.g., online appointment scheduling versus an electronic practice newsletter).
You can conduct the survey again in the future to see whether their interests have changed. By doing so, you will stay up-to-date on your patients’ level of comfort with the Internet and encourage them to cross the digital divide.
