ECRI

Nursing homes have recently been assessed millions of dollars in citations for failing to have effective respiratory protection programs in place to protect staff and residents from COVID-19. Many of these violations are related to the failure to develop a written program, as well as for not providing medical evaluations, training, and fit testing for N95 masks.

Dr. Cassin received her medical degree from Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She completed a residency in Internal Medicine followed by a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the Perelman School of Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania where she served on the Infection Control Committee. Following residency, she has practiced clinical infectious diseases as an attending physician at Abington-Jefferson Hospital in Abington, Pennsylvania where she served on the Infection Control Committee and the Medical Executive Committee.

Maureen Cassin, MD

Medical Director, Infection Prevention and Control

Ms. Harpel is a geriatric clinical nurse specialist and a risk management analyst. In her present role, she provides environment-of-care safety and security and quality and risk management consultation to aging services/post-acute care providers. She has developed institutional- based learning programs utilizing electronic media, traditional lecture, just-in-time activities and bedside initiatives that have focused on safe and efficient care delivery.

Jean Harpel, MSN, RN, GCNS, CPASRM

Operations Manager, PSRQ Aging Services, ECRI

Avoiding Nursing Home Penalties for Ineffective Respiratory Protection Programs

This podcast is part of ECRI's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nursing homes have recently been assessed millions of dollars in citations for failing to have effective respiratory protection programs in place to protect staff and residents from COVID-19. Many of these violations are related to the failure to develop a written program, as well as for not providing medical evaluations, training, and fit testing for N95 masks.
In today’s episode, Dr. Maureen Cassin and Jean Harpel of ECRI, discuss the CDC recommendations and OSHA requirements, why nursing homes may struggle to comply during the COVID-19 pandemic, and answer some questions we've received from our member organizations.
Contact us at (610) 825-6000 or <a href="mailto:clientservices@ecri.org" target="_blank">clientservices@ecri.org</a> to learn more.

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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

This podcast is part of ECRI's ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In today’s episode, Marcus Schabacker, MD, PhD, President and CEO of ECRI, discusses our position paper on the <a href= "https://d84vr99712pyz.cloudfront.net/p/pdf/covid-19-resource-center/covid-19-clinical-care/covid-resource_fasttrackvaccine_ecri-position.pdf"> fast-tracked development of COVID-19 vaccines</a>. During recent FDA public hearings and within the paper, ECRI warns that rushing to deploy vaccines before all the data has been collected and evaluated could lead to increased risk for patients, not to mention harm to public trust in vaccines in general. Interested in learning more? Contact us at (610) 825-6000 or <a href="mailto:clientservices@ecri.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">clientservices@ecri.org</a>.

Risks for Fast-tracked COVID-19 Vaccines

This is a special episode produced in conjunction with our colleagues in ECRI's Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety. The Partnership is working with EHRA to explore how health IT can help integrate behavioral health and primary care. This podcast is the second part of our conversation. During that <a href= "https://www.ecri.org/podcasts/how-health-it-can-support-integration-of-primary-care-and-behavioral-health/"> first discussion</a>, we spoke about how many Americans with behavioral health conditions receive their behavioral care from their primary care providers, but only one-third of patients with behavioral health conditions report receiving the care they need. In this episode, we'll look at what the workgroup learned about how technology can facilitate this integration, how we can use health IT to increase access to care, and whether health IT can help clinicians from various disciplines speak with one another and share information to facilitate safe, effective, quality care. Interested in learning more? Contact us at (610) 825-6000 or <a href="mailto:clientservices@ecri.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">clientservices@ecri.org</a>.

Health IT Integrates Behavioral Health and Primary Care

In this episode, we're talking about bone graft substitutes—a type of device that can lead to a lot of confusion among purchasers and providers because of all the varieties available. These substances are used as alternatives to autologous bone grafts in orthopedic procedures such as filling of bone voids, arthrodesis (i.e., bone joint fusion), repair of bone fractures, or healing of bone surrounding implanted devices (e.g., knee/hip prostheses, bone screws). Our guests will describe some common misconceptions about bone graft substitutes and steps organizations can take to improve safety and purchasing procedures. Interested in learning more? Contact us at (610) 825-6000 or <a href="mailto:clientservices@ecri.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">clientservices@ecri.org</a>.

Breaking Down Bone Graft Substitutes

This is a special episode produced in conjunction with our colleagues in ECRI's Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety. ​The Partnership is convening a workgroup to derive safe practices to reduce CPOE alert fatigue through monitoring, analysis, and optimization. John McGreevey, MD, University of Pennsylvania, and Adam Wright, PhD, Vanderbilt, are the collaborators co-chairing the workgroup. In this episode, we’re talking to the workgroup’s co-chairs about the burden providers face from alerts, the impact on patient safety, and how the workgroup will identify potential solutions that can be implemented in large and small organization alike. Interested in learning more? Contact us at (610) 825-6000 or <a href="mailto:clientservices@ecri.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">clientservices@ecri.org</a>.

Reducing Burden by Improving EHR Alerts

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for drastic social distancing measures included banning visitors at most nursing homes throughout the U.S. in an attempt to protect some of the most vulnerable among us. That ban, however, carried with it a real emotional burden for persons served and families unable to visit their loved ones, not to mention facility staff. In this episode, we're talking about the steps involved in reopening nursing homes to visitors. As some parts of the country continue to relax distancing rules while others are forced to reinstate some rules, we talk about the considerations for opening allowing visitors and how to do so safely when the time is right. Learn more about how ECRI can help from our website at <a href= "http://www.ecri.org">www.ecri.org</a>, where you'll find our COVID-19 Resource Center with publicly available resources to help providers across the continuum of care, including ECRI's position paper <a href= "https://assets.ecri.org/PDF/COVID-19-Resource-Center/COVID-19-Aging-Care/COVID-AgingServices_Visitation-Guidelines.pdf"> Aging Services Visitation Guidelines in the COVID-19 Pandemic</a>. Interested in learning more? Contact us at (610) 825-6000 or <a href="mailto:clientservices@ecri.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">clientservices@ecri.org</a>.

Reopening Nursing Homes to Visitors

We all want answers to critical questions such as: How much longer will the SARS-COV-2 pandemic last? Is social distancing working? Are the tests reliable? Do any treatments work? The world is swimming in SARS-COV-2 scientific data rushed to publication even before peer review. In this episode, we're talking about some of the statistical models used to try to understand the future of the pandemic. We’ll discuss key questions both consumers and healthcare provider organizations should ask as they evaluate those models and judge how much—or how little—to rely on them. Learn more about how ECRI can help from our website at <a href= "http://www.ecri.org">www.ecri.org</a>, where you'll find our COVID-19 Resource Center with publicly available resources to help providers across the continuum of care, including ECRI's position paper <a href= "https://assets.ecri.org/PDF/COVID-19-Resource-Center/COVID-19-Clinical-Care/COVID-Position-Paper_Projections.pdf"> COVID-19 Models: Why Do Projections Differ</a>. Interested in learning more? Contact us at (610) 825-6000 or <a href="mailto:clientservices@ecri.org" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">clientservices@ecri.org</a>.

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ABOUT THE SHOW

Paul Anderson

Director, Patient Safety, Risk, & Quality Publications