ECRI

In this episode, we talk with nurse leaders from Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) about their innovative blended staffing model that encourages LPNs to return to acute care, along with other programs to help bolster staffing, like incentivizing nurses who have left the workforce to return to practice.

Claire Zangerle, DNP, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAONL, FAAN, is the Chief Nurse Executive for Allegheny Health Network, responsible for the integrating nursing practice and strategy across the continuum. As a member of AHN's executive leadership team, she supports and facilitates the patient-centered care delivery model by creating an environment that promotes high quality and consistency in the standard of practice across all AHN facilities and clinics. She serves as the executive nursing voice of AHN’s more than 6,000 nurses.

Claire Zangerle, DNP

Chief Nurse Executive

Erin Toth, MSN, RN, is Nurse Manager of the 5 North/Respiratory Unit at Jefferson Hospital, part of Allegheny Health Network. She previously served as Manager of Hospital Operations at Jefferson Hospital, and has a background as a registered nurse in oncology and critical care.

Erin Toth, MSN, RN

Nurse Manager

In this episode, we talk with nurse leaders from Allegheny Health Network about their innovative blended staffing model that encourages LPNs to return to acute care, along with other programs to help bolster staffing.


Innovative Staffing Models to Overcome Nursing Shortage

Each year, ECRI releases its Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns list identifying potential sources of danger for patients and staff. We believe these risks require the greatest focus for the coming year. This year, we named healthcare staffing shortages as the top item on the list.One strategy for fighting the nursing shortage is to supplement registered nurses with staff from other disciplines, including licensed practical nurses (LPNs). In this episode, we talk with nurse leaders from Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) about their innovative blended staffing model that encourages LPNs to return to acute care, along with other programs to help bolster staffing, like incentivizing nurses who have left the workforce to return to practice. They describe challenges in implementing these strategies and tips that can help leaders develop targeted solutions that meet each organization’s, and each unit’s, needs.Learn more about ECRI’s Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2022 and download the report today.

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Welcome to Smart Healthcare Safety from ECRI, where we discuss real healthcare safety issues. The goal of this podcast is to bring ECRI's guidance to life. The recommendations are meant to help you get from being aware of an issue to assuring that your patients are safe.  Hear from our experts and guests on topics that affect your delivery of safe patient care.

Smart Healthcare Safety from ECRI

Providing equitable care for a diverse population requires providers to meet patients where they are—including if they are experiencing homelessness. In this episode, Dr. Jose Ramos, of Pomona Valley Health Centers, describes his team’s outreach efforts to homeless individuals, how those efforts were affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and strategies for implementing similar programs elsewhere.

Board-certified family physician José Ramos, MD is motivated to provide respectful, culturally responsible, high-quality and patient-centered care that focuses on each person’s individual needs and goals. He is involved in Physicians for Social Responsibility and provides volunteer care to immigrants, mentors under-represented minorities seeking healthcare careers, and volunteers with a street-medicine ministry in the Arroyo Seco homeless encampments.

José Ramos, MD

Associate Program Director, Pomona Valley Hospital Sponsored Family Medicine Residency Program

Providing equitable care for a diverse population requires providers to meet patients where they are—including if they are experiencing homelessness. In this episode, Dr. Jose Ramos, of Pomona Valley Health Centers, describes his team’s outreach efforts to homeless individuals, how those efforts were affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and strategies for implementing similar programs elsewhere.


Fighting Healthcare Disparities | Outreach to those Experiencing Homelessness

In this episode, Dr. Jose Ramos, of Pomona Valley Health Centers, describes his team’s outreach efforts to homeless individuals, how those efforts were affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and strategies for implementing similar programs elsewhere.


In this episode, our guest, Emily Transue, MD, MHA, FACP, Medical Director for the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA), discusses how shared decision-making can be more than a tool to engage patients in their care, and can also help in the fight against care inequities and disparities.

Emily Transue, MD, MHA, FACP is a Medical Director for the Washington State Health Care Authority.  She received her B.S. from Yale University, M.D. from Dartmouth Medical School, and Master of Health Administration from the University of Washington.  She is a general internist who practiced for 15 years as a primary care provider before shifting to roles in leadership and policy.  She is the author of two books, On Call and Patient by Patient, about the experience of practicing medicine.  At the Health Care Authority, her role includes being medical director for the Employee and Retiree Benefits division, oversight of the Shared Decision-Making program, and supporting quality measurement and improvement.

Emily Transue, MD, MHA, FACP

Medical Director, Washington State Health Care Authority

In this episode, our guest, Emily Transue, MD, MHA, FACP, Medical Director for the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA), discusses how shared decision-making can be more than a tool to engage patients in their care, and can also help in the fight against care inequities and disparities.


Fighting Healthcare Disparities | Utilizing Shared Decision-Making

In this episode, we talk with our guest, Tom McCormick, Vice President, Patient Accounting, at Penn Medicine, about adjusting staffing patterns in the patient accounting department during the COVID-19 pandemic. He shares his perspective on how staff roles changed, how the shift to remote work had expected and unexpected effects, and how all of it tied back to providing for patient and staff safety.

Tom McCormick was born and raised in Philadelphia and earned his Bachelors and Masters Degrees from Temple University. He has worked in healthcare finance for 40+ years, all in academic medical centers. Tom is currently the Vice President of Patient Accounting at the University of Pennsylvania Health System. His responsibilities cover the Accounts Receivable operations for 6 hospitals, the faculty practice plan, the physician primary care group practice, home care services, and behavioral health. Tom is also a board member of the Philadelphia Chapter of American Association of Healthcare Administrative Management where he previously served as that organization’s president for 12 years.

Tom McCormick

Vice President, Patient Accounting, Penn Medicine

In this episode, we talk with our guest, Tom McCormick, Vice President, Patient Accounting, at Penn Medicine, about adjusting staffing patterns in the patient accounting department during the COVID-19 pandemic. He shares his perspective on how staff roles changed, how the shift to remote work had expected and unexpected effects, and how all of it tied back to providing for patient and staff safety. 


Great Retirement Leading to Continued Workforce Shortages

Nurse Retirement Leading to Continued Workforce Shortages

In this episode, our guests discuss their data-driven approach to identify and combat disparities and realize their vision of creating a Dallas County with equitable, accessible healthcare for all. Our first guest, Brett Moran, MD, is from Parkland Health &amp; Hospital System, one of the country’s largest and most progressive safety-net hospitals. Our second guest, Steve Miff, PhD, is from Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation, a leading, non-profit, data science, artificial intelligence and innovation organization affiliated with Parkland Health &amp; Hospital System.

Dr. Steve Miff is the President and CEO of Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation (PCCI), a leading, non-profit, artificial intelligence and cognitive computing organization affiliated with Parkland Health, one of the country’s largest and most progressive safety-net hospitals. Spurred by his passion to use next-generation analytics and technology to help serve the most vulnerable and underserved residents, Steve and his team focus on leveraging technology, data science, and clinical expertise to obtain unique social-determinants-of-health data and incorporate those holistic, personal insights into point-of-care interventions.

Steve Miff, PhD, MS

President and CEO of Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation​

Brett is the first ever Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO) at Parkland Health & Hospital System and helped steward them from being a paper-based hospital to being a fully electronic institution within 3 years and ultimately being one of the first safety net organizations to win the Davies Award, for excellence in translating informatics to patient value. Graduating from UT Southwestern Medical School, and subsequently Internal Medicine Residency, he joined the General Internal Medicine Department in 1997, ultimately becoming a full professor. He is dual board certified in both Internal Medicine and Clinical Informatics, being the 2nd class to graduate with board certification in Clinical Informatics. 

Brett Moran, MD

Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Parkland Health and Hospital System

In this episode, our guests discuss their data-driven approach to identify and combat disparities and realize their vision of creating a Dallas County with equitable, accessible healthcare for all. 


Fighting Healthcare Disparities | Equitable and Accessible Healthcare for All

In this episode, we're taking another look at shortages in the nursing workforce. Healthcare has faced workforce shortages in the past, and even before the COVID-19 pandemic made things even worse. The American Nurses Association and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecast the retirement of more than half a million registered nurses by the end of 2022. Our guests are from the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University, located just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Brom teaches in the undergraduate curriculum and is a health services researcher interested in examining nurse and nurse practitioner workforce issues and contributions to improved health outcomes across a variety of patient populations. Her work utilizes a variety of data sources including electronic health records and larger administrative claims-based data sets. Dr. Brom has over 10 years of clinical, administrative, and educational experience in the oncology setting. Her current projects include examining the influence of nurse practitioners on diminishing racial and ethnic disparities in ambulatory care, implementing a clinical pathway to improve post-hospitalization outcomes for socially at-risk individuals, and the impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare workforce.

Heather Brom, PhD, RN

Eastwood Family Endowed Assistant Professor of Nursing, Villanova University

Donna S. Havens, PhD, RN, FAAN, is the Connelly Endowed Dean of the Villanova University M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing. She began in that role June 30, 2018. Her career in the nursing profession spans decades and has included a blend of roles in nursing practice, academia, administration and research in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Havens brings broad international experience to her role at Villanova. She has held several appointments abroad, including as a visiting international scholar at the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. She also served as the Frances Bloomberg International Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Toronto Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing and as a visiting professor in the National Nursing Research Unit at the King’s College Florence Nightingale School of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care in London. 

Donna S. Havens, PhD, RN, FAAN

Connelly Endowed Dean and Professor of the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, Villanova University

Healthcare has faced workforce shortages in the past, and even before the COVID-19 pandemic made things even worse. Our guests are from the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing at Villanova University, located just outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


Shortages in the Nursing Workforce

In this episode, we're talking about ECRI’s number one Top 10 concern for 2022: staffing shortages and the potential dangers to both the patients and the staff. Prior to 2021, there was a growing shortage of both clinical and non-clinical staff, but the problem has grown exponentially. Our guest is Ernest Grant, PhD, RN, FAAN, the 36th President of the American Nurses Association (ANA).

Dr. Ernest J. Grant is the 36th president of the American Nurses Association (ANA). A distinguished leader, Dr. Grant has more than 30 years of nursing experience and is an internationally recognized burn-care and fire-safety expert. He previously served as the burn outreach coordinator for the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals in Chapel Hill. In this role, Grant oversaw burn education for physicians, nurses, and other allied health care personnel and ran the center’s nationally acclaimed burn prevention program. Grant holds a BSN degree from North Carolina Central University and MSN and PhD degrees from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He was inducted as a fellow into the American Academy of Nursing in 2014. He is the first man to be elected to the office of president of the American Nurses Association.

Ernest J. Grant, PhD, RN, FAAN

President, American Nurses Association 

In this episode, we're talking about ECRI’s number one Top 10 concern for 2022: staffing shortages and the potential dangers to both the patients and the staff.


Recent Episodes

SEASON 1

Fighting Healthcare Disparities | Outreach to those Experiencing Homelessness

Fighting Healthcare Disparities | Utilizing Shared Decision-Making

Great Retirement Leading to Continued Workforce Shortages

Fighting Healthcare Disparities | Equitable and Accessible Healthcare for All

Shortages in the Nursing Workforce

Top Patient Safety Concern–Staffing Shortages

About The Show

Smart Healthcare Safety from ECRI

Paul Anderson

Director, Patient Safety, Risk, & Quality Publications