When the System Goes Down: Proactive Planning for Electronic Health Record Downtime

Electronic health record (EHR) systems are ubiquitous in healthcare and serve as the primary repository for important patient health information. When properly implemented, these systems have proven beneficial as part of emergency management and response efforts. They can help preserve data, facilitate the quick transfer of critical information, and ensure continuity of care.

Overcoming Telehealth Barriers and Engaging Older Adults in Virtual Care

If the COVID-19 pandemic offered any silver lining at all for healthcare, one could easily argue that it was telehealth. During the public health crisis, telehealth offered a virtual gateway that became instrumental to continuity of care for patients and economic viability for practices.

Although the use of telehealth has receded from its peak during the pandemic, it almost certainly will remain a critical tool in healthcare delivery — particularly since access to care and provider shortages remain top concerns.

Let’s Chat: Examining Top Risks Associated With Generative Artificial Intelligence Chatbots

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have been making waves in various industries, particularly since the release of Open AI’s ChatGPT-4 in the spring of 2023. The hype and excitement around these powerful technologies is not without merit. Chatbots offer a compelling case for how AI can revolutionize our world and change how we approach everyday tasks and challenges.

LEAPing to Better Complaint Management in Healthcare Practices

Dealing with customer dissatisfaction is a reality in every industry, and healthcare is no different. Even healthcare practices that are extremely diligent about patient experience and satisfaction will most likely encounter patient complaints on occasion. For this reason, practices should implement a complaint management process that all providers and staff members can understand and follow. Every employee should be prepared to manage patient complaints promptly and according to office protocol.

The Toll of Adverse Patient Outcomes on Healthcare Providers: Supporting Second Victims

Any approach for managing adverse outcomes in healthcare, including medical errors, should prioritize the patients who these situations affect. Patients are considered the “first victims” of adverse outcomes, and healthcare organizations and providers have a duty to provide them with truthful information, follow-up care, and emotional support.

The Patient Safety and Financial Implications of Disruptive Behavior

Disruptive behavior among healthcare providers and staff is widespread in healthcare settings, from large health systems to small healthcare practices. In a recent survey of healthcare professionals at an academic hospital in the United States, 63 percent of participants experienced unprofessional behavior at least once a month.¹

The negative consequences of disruptive behavior are far reaching. These behaviors can affect staff morale, focus/concentration, collaboration, communication, and information transfer.² Thus, from a broad perspective, disruptive behavior can have both patient safety and financial implications.

Improving Identification and Management of Sepsis in Outpatient Settings

Sepsis is a debilitating, life-threatening, and costly condition that poses a significant burden on patients and healthcare organizations. Although sepsis is a leading cause of death in the United States,¹ knowledge about the condition, early recognition, and management are a persistent challenge in healthcare.

Various factors may contribute to lack of sepsis awareness and delays in diagnosis. First, the terms and definitions associated with sepsis have changed over the years, and lack of standardization has led to multiple definitions in use at the same time. Additionally, identification criteria associated with the terminology and definitions also have varied.²

The Challenge of Difficult Patients: Risk Management Strategies for Handling Inappropriate Patient Behaviors

Difficult patients represent one of the most challenging situations that doctors and other healthcare professionals encounter. Dealing with these patients can be emotionally and mentally draining — as well as increasingly frustrating — for practitioners and their staff members.

Inappropriate patient behaviors also can compromise the provider–patient relationship, and patients who exhibit these behaviors might be at higher risk for misdiagnosis and poor outcomes.¹ Difficult patients also might be more likely to file lawsuits as a result of perceived unsatisfactory encounters.