Posterous has been a fine platform for sharing news but with the recent sale to Twitter, I've decided to give Google+ a try. The items I've posted here will remain but I'll be sharing new stuff on Google+ going forward.
Health Law Department, Husch Blackwell LLP
Posterous has been a fine platform for sharing news but with the recent sale to Twitter, I've decided to give Google+ a try. The items I've posted here will remain but I'll be sharing new stuff on Google+ going forward.
"The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced the Initiative to Reduce Avoidable Hospitalizations among Nursing Facility Residents, a new effort designed to improve care for people living in nursing facilities who are enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. The initiative aims to reduce costly and avoidable hospitalizations among nursing facility residents by funding organizations that would partner with nursing facilities to provide enhanced on-site services and supports to nursing facility residents. CMS commits up to $128 million to support a diverse portfolio of these evidence-based interventions." Full article
Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are among the most serious of all healthcare-associated infections, resulting in thousands of deaths each year and nearly $700 million in added costs to the U.S. healthcare system. Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that Hospital Compare will now include data about how often these preventable infections occur in hospital intensive care units across the country. This step will hold hospitals accountable for bringing down these rates, saving thousands of lives and millions of dollars each year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that in 2009, there were about 41,000 CLABSIs in U.S. hospitals. Studies show that up to 25 percent of patients who get a CLABSI will die from the infection. Caring for a patient with a CLABSI adds about $17,000 to a hospitalization. These infections prolong hospitalizations and can cause death.
Philips has just released an app for the iPad 2 which can detect heart rate and respiratory rate. The Vital Signs Camera App uses the tablet’s camera to sense small changes in facial color, indicative of beat by beat changes in blood flow, to determine your heart rate. Respiratory rate is determined by tracking the movement of the chest during breathing .
The world’s first robot system that learns to dress the physically disabled and elderly has been created by the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) in Japan. The device incorporates “reinforcement learning” and remarkably adapts to the individual size and shape of the person within minutes.
The system comes from the collaboration of Barrett Technology‘s patented robotic WAM arms andNAIST‘s advanced computer intelligence. The robot will potentially help older people or those disabled with maintaining a level of personal independence.
Press release: A Breakthrough in Robotics: WAM™ Arms at NAIST Aid in Dressing the Elderly and Infirm
The Green House concept is the most comprehensive effort to reinvent the nursing home, experts say — including the way medical care is delivered. In traditional nursing homes, employees typically have narrowly defined jobs: Some give baths, some cook, some do laundry. It’s a system based on efficiency that tends to ignore individuals’ preferences and needs.
In a Green House, each home is staffed with two certified nursing assistants who perform all of these jobs, but for fewer residents. In addition, one registered nurse typically supports two or three houses.
"A team led by Ki Chon, professor and head of biomedical engineering at WPI, has developed a smart phone application that can measure not only heart rate, but also heart rhythm, respiration rate and blood oxygen saturation using the phone's built-in video camera. The new app yields vital signs as accurate as standard medical monitors now in clinical use."
"Imagine a technician in a nursing home who is able to go into a patient's room, place the patient's finger on the camera of a tablet, and in that one step capture all their vital signs," Chon said. "We believe there are many applications for this technology, to help patients monitor themselves, and to help clinicians care for their patients."
A retirement center in Florida says an iPad pilot program started in July is helping keep residents young at heart. The iPad’s large touch screen and light weight are helping healthy residents socialize more — as they play with puzzles and games — and it’s been “pretty amazing,” the home director says with re-educating stroke and dementia patients. It only took three donated iPads, loaded with games,brain trainers, puzzles and language apps, to improve life at the Health Central Park nursing home in Winter Garden, Florida.
This study brings to light a new area of concern that has not gotten much attention to date - privacy curtains. Most curtains were contaminated within one week of hanging. Routine washing of hands after touching the curtains will go a long way to prevent the spread of infection.
Motion-sensing technology found in devices like Microsoft's Xbox 360 are effective at detecting the early onset of illness and fall risk in seniors, according to research from the University of Missouri.
In one study, researchers used Microsoft Kinect, the Xbox 360's motion-sensing camera, to monitor behavior and routine changes in patients at TigerPlace, an independent living community located in Columbia, Mo.
In a second study, a fall detection system used Doppler radar to recognize changes in walking, bending, and other body movements that may signal a heightened risk for falls.
Physicians at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto now use the Kinect to review CT and MRI scans during procedures without leaving the "sterile field" around the operating table. According to a surgical oncologist at Sunnybrook, it can take a physician up to 20 minutes to clean-up per image—sometimes adding an extra hour to surgery.
Meanwhile, University of Washington students are finding ways to use Kinect to create 3-D maps of patients that can be used in robotic surgeries, and researchers at the Virtopsy research program in Switzerland are developing ways to use the system during virtual autopsies. In addition, University of Minnesota researchers are using the Kinect to observe children who may have mental disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder.
