ECRI

Today, we're talking about ECRI's 2021 list of the Top 10 Health Technology Hazards. This report is intended to identify potential sources of danger that we believe warrant the greatest attention for the coming year and offer practical recommendations for reducing the risks. The 2021 list features all new topics. Several focus on hazards that have developed in today’s environment of unprecedented stresses and rapid technological changes.

Rob Schluth is a principal project officer manager at ECRI, an independent, nonprofit organization providing unbiased assurance on medical technologies and treatments to healthcare professionals around the world. During his 25-year tenure with ECRI's Device Evaluation Group, Rob has contributed to hundreds of the engineering team's device evaluations, problem reports, and guidance articles spanning virtually all health technologies. Rob currently focuses on managing special initiatives, including the annual Health Devices Achievement Award competition and development of ECRI's Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list. The Top 10 list—which identifies potential sources of harm associated with medical technologies and provides recommendations for action—empowers those on (or near) the front lines of patient care to further ECRI's mission of improving the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of healthcare across all settings.

Rob Schluth

Principal Project Officer—Product Development, Device Evaluation, ECRI

In this episode, we'll talk to the project coordinator about how the Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list is generated, how we intend for organizations to use it, and how this year differs from past versions.


Top 10 Health Technology Hazards to Watch

Today, we're talking about ECRI's 2021 list of the Top 10 Health Technology Hazards. This report is intended to identify potential sources of danger that we believe warrant the greatest attention for the coming year and offer practical recommendations for reducing the risks. The 2021 list features all new topics. Several focus on hazards that have developed in today’s environment of unprecedented stresses and rapid technological changes. In this episode, we'll talk to the project coordinator about how the list is generated, how we intend for organizations to use it, and how this year differs from past versions.You can download your copy of <a href="https://www.ecri.org/2021-top-10-health-technology-hazards-executive-brief/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ECRI’s 2021 Top 10 Health Technology</a> <a href="https://www.ecri.org/2021-top-10-health-technology-hazards-executive-brief/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hazards Executive Brief</a> today.

About ECRI

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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

In this episode around COVID-19 vaccines, we’ll discuss topics like why two shots are needed with the currently authorized vaccines, concerns about allergies and contraindications, new mutations, and more.

Graduated as Dr. of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Pierre and Marie Curie University (Paris, France) in 2002. Conducted basic research in developmental and cancer biology as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Lerner Research Institute of Cleveland Clinic (2003 – 2009), the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania (2009-2015), and the Harvard Medical School (2015-2016). Joined ECRI’s HTAIS (now CEA) Department in October 2016. My current position is in the Custom Hotline Response Team, and my main work is to conduct rapid evidence reviews to address our member organization questions and help their decision-making regarding medical technologies. My interests focus on making HTA processes more flexible, lean, and accessible to healthcare providers, payers, and manufacturers and findings ways to leverage clinical evidence to inform the general public and promote evidence medicine level all levels.

Alfredo I. Penzo Mendez, PhD

Research Analyst III – Clinical Evidence Assessment

Marcus Lynch is currently the Assistant Manager of Horizon Scanning at ECRI and leads a team of Analysts that identify and assess disruptive healthcare technologies and trends. He previously worked for a number of years as a Senior Analyst covering the therapeutic areas of infectious diseases, pulmonary diseases, rare diseases, and oncology. Prior to ECRI Marcus was a Medical Writer/Scientific Communications Manager for nearly 3 years covering vaccines, antibiotics, and cardiovascular drugs. Marcus earned his PhD from Ohio State in Immunology (vaccine development), an MBA from Penn State, and a BS in Animal Science from the University of Delaware.

Marcus Lynch, PhD, MBA

Assistant Manager, Horizon Scanning, Clinical Excellence and Safety

COVID-19 Vaccines: Questions Answered

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. 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>.

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ABOUT THE SHOW

Paul Anderson

Director, Patient Safety, Risk, & Quality Publications