Newswise — Ada Sue Hinshaw — PhD, RN, FAAN, dean and professor, Graduate School of Nursing, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Md., the nation’s federal health sciences university — will receive the GE Healthcare-AACN Pioneering Spirit Award. The award, from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) and supported by GE Healthcare, will be given at the 2011 National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition, Chicago, April 30-May 5. This AACN Visionary Leadership Award re

Newswise — Athena Forum LLC — a leading publisher of online continuing education for case managers, social workers and healthcare professionals — now incorporates the Code of Ethics of the Commission for Case Manager Certification (CCMC) into its 125 online continuing education courses. CCMC’s Code of Ethics, adopted in 1996, advances the overarching goal to enhance patient safety and quality care. Incorporating the Code of Ethics into Athena Forum courses ensures case managers and social work

Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tools are improving outcomes for patients across the country. “CDS is often a misnomer to describe electronic health record (EHR) alerts that provide guidance on care delivery. However, the term can mean any tool that assists team members in making timely, informed decisions about patient care that will improve their outcomes,” says Jonathan French, director of health information system, quality and patient safety at the Healthcare Information and Management Syst

In 2013, Brad Huerta, incoming CEO at Arco, Idaho-based Lost Rivers Medical Center, replaced its laser-disc electronic health records with cloud-based technology. The decision, driven by meaningful use, resulted in across-the-board cost savings for the critical access hospital. "Just our MU adaptation alone saved $700,000 in terms of accounts-receivable days coming down and cash on hand," said Huerta. "In terms of transparency, reduced medical errors and higher patient satisfaction – at least a

Shaun Grannis, MD, can relate to the recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine showing that physicians spend 37 percent of their time on clinical documentation in their electronic health records. "Eight years ago when I was seeing patients, I would dictate for 90 seconds after every patient in free text and communicate all care provided," said Grannis, interim director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics at the Indianapolis-based Regenstrief Institute. "Today, I fill out a five-page

Augmented reality, the technology behind this summer's popular game app, Pokémon GO, and virtual reality – popularized by the Oculus Rift gaming headset – are poised to reshape patient therapy and medical training, some say. "We believe AR/VR has the power to revolutionize how we deliver and approach healthcare and medicine," said Rodwin Pabello, director of product development at San Francisco-based software developer, Viscira. "It's already impacting the way medical professionals are trainin

Michael Middleton, MD, credits online patient portals with helping him grow his Orlando, Florida-based pediatric practice more than three-fold in two-and-a-half years – while keeping staff cost increases at 20 percent. "The primary way it's benefited us financially is by not forcing us to hire more admins as our practice has grown," he said. "The efficiency comes with instantly directing the right message to the right person. The other part is accountability; things are written down not verbali

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) plays an important role in diagnosing infectious diseases, but the technology has limits. “If you go to a doctor, a molecular test can’t be performed in his office,” explains Bill Olson, CEO of “He takes your sample, puts it in a tube, sends it to a laboratory, and estimates the medical decision. He doesn’t have confirmation of the test.” It can take hours to run a . Add to that shipping and processing time, and you’re looking at waiting days for results. Fluor

Anna Orlova, senior director, standards at AHIMA, compares the current interoperability of today's electronic health record systems to treadle sewing machines of the early 20th century. "What we give physicians is a mechanical sewing machine," she says. "You just need to move your legs to create data. It shouldn't be that way." Steven J. Stack, MD, president-elect of the American Medical Association, says difficulties exchanging and sharing data stem in large part from "an overabundance of mea