Flip The Funnel For Increased Physician Efficiency and Improved Patient Satisfaction
The emerging healthcare environment requires expanded patient access while minimizing the cost of care. This is of particular importance for accountable care organizations that are assuming significant risk and must develop more innovative ways to deliver care to drive better outcomes and wring out inefficiencies. Our practice has experienced this struggle on a daily basis as patients, who needed a surgical consult, were frustrated with limited access. Our clinical schedule was filled with non-surgical candidates. This created a paradox where the most specialized health system resources (e.g., surgeon and MRI) were being allocated to a continuum of care that did not result in better care or outcomes, while also increasing physician and patient frustration. The long-standing dilemma was that the wrong patient was often in the wrong clinic leading to an inefficient and circuitous path for the delivery of appropriate care. When evaluating our practice it was clear that we could improve our allocation of available resources with the outcome being happy patients and happy physicians within a healthcare system that was delivering high quality, low cost, appropriate care.
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Ultrasound Guidance at the Point of Care
Executive Insight
By Diku Mandavia, MD, FACEP, FRCPC …
CT Dose in Children
Yahoo! Health, Day in Health
By Lisa Collier Cool
Highly regarded healthcare journalist Lisa Collier Cool covers the risks of sending children straight to CT for scans to investigate potential appendicitis. She points out that ionizing radiation from CT poses cancer threats to children and that ultrasound is a viable alternative and could be the first line of imaging for children for certain diagnostic investigations.
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Emergency Ultrasound at the Bedside Improves Safety
Dr. Bahner underscores that since the 1980s, emergency ultrasound performed by emergency physicians at the point of care has been recognized as a valuable technology to improve the department. Employing ultrasound at the bedside, he asserts, can reduce medical errors, provide more efficient real-time diagnosis, and in certain clinical scenarios, supplement or replace more expensive imaging modalities such as CT and reduce patient exposure to ionizing radiation. This article details how ultrasound can improve procedural success and safety such as invasive procedures like nerve blocks and central venous catheter placement, prevent costly errors and discussed the future of emergency ultrasound which has grown since the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) published its first specialty-specific ultrasound guidelines.
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Improving Safety and Quality with Best Practices: Focus on Central Venous Access
Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare
Diku Mandavia, MD, FACEP, FRCPC, Chief Medical Officer at Sonosite, and clinical associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Southern California …
Imaging Economics
True Value
David B. Case, MD, clinical associate professor of medicine at Cornell University Weill College of Medicine in New York
John E. Postley, MD, FACP, assistant clinical professor of medicine at Columbia University. …
Ultrasound Needle Guidance in Rheumatology: Advances, Applications and Clinical Pearls
This article enumerates the benefits and applications of Musculoskeletal Ultrasound and details procedural guidance for join and soft tissue injections and aspirations. Dr. Goyal also explains that ultrasound technology has been shown to be 6.5 times more sensitive than x-rays for early, accurate diagnosis of small bone erosions in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. He argues that point of care US can significantly reduce medical errors and offer efficient real-time diagnosis. US can replace or supplement more expensive imaging technologies such as CT in appropriate clinical scenarios.
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Our Journey to Zero Patient Harm
Group Practice Journal
Michael Shabot, M.D. FACS, FCCM, FACMI, is chief medical officer, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, Houston and Adjunct Professor at the University of Texas School of Biomedical Informatics and the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston.
Michael Warneke, M.D. is medical director of quality, Memorial Hermann Southeast Hospital. …
How Sonosite is Helping to Fight Ebola
From ground zero of the Ebola outbreak – Dr.Trish Henwood is on a medical mission to better understand the pathophysiology of the disease and her Sonosite ultrasound has already been proven invaluable. It is pioneer physicians like Trish that will allow the global medical community to get a grasp on this devastating illness and with our support she is actually making that happen.
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Pathways That Deliver Increased Physician Efficiency And Improved Patient Satisfaction
American Association of Orthopedic Executives Newsletter
Chuck Thigpen PhD, PT, ATC- Clinical Research Scientist, Proaxis Therapy
Walk through the rationale, steps taken, and results recorded from a re-engineered clinical shoulder injury pathway program focused on rotator cuff tears.
By using the appropriately skilled provider at the right time and through first line use of ultrasound instead of MRI, the program lead to the clinic being able to serve more patients by improving physician efficiency. …
Sonosite Supports PURE in Uganda
As one of our global initiatives, Sonosite is proud to support PURE with M-Turbo equipment. Its portability and resilience make it a perfect solution when travelling to resource-limited environments.
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Updates From the Ebola Fight in Liberia
Report from an Ebola treatment center in Liberia from Dr. Trish Henwood.
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The evidence is stacking up. POC ultrasound is a game changer.
How an old technology became a disruptive innovation
TEDMED 2014: Resa Lewiss, Directorof Point-of-Care Ultrasound and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine & Radiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, explains why and how ultrasound at the bedside became a game changer for clinical care. This 6 minute video talks about situations where lives were changed as a result of Point-of-Care Ultrasound. Follow the link. …
Morocco - Mobile Ultrasound Update
If you have not read our previous blog The Morocco Mobile Ultrasound Patrol, I highly recommend that you follow the link: The Morocco Mobile Ultrasound Patrol It is a solution driven article, inspiring all POC ultrasound technicians to reach beyond the day to day borders that we usually work in. It highlights a united effort between Qualcomm Wireless Reach, Trice Imaging Inc., FUJIFILM Sonosite Inc., and Sony.
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From Volume to Value
Finance leaders should understand the drivers of cost and quality in their organizations, including how best to make cost-effective use of technologies. …
Sonosite working in Rwanda with the PURE team
This past March three PURE traveled to Rwanda to teach point of care ultrasound to 15 internal medicine resident trainees as well as 11 general practitioners working in the emergency department at the country’s main government teaching and referral hospital. The teaching took place at the Centre Hospitalier Universitarie de Kigali (CHUK) Simulation Center, and on the wards of CHUK. …
Penn doctor prepares to fight Ebola in Liberia
This is such an inspiring story! Trish Henwood, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, will travel to Liberia to work with the International Medicine Corps treating Ebola.
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Ultrasound: The Swiss-army-knife-of-health-care.
Ultrasound: The Swiss-army-knife-of-health-care. Medical Students sharpen your transducers and come to Stanford ULTRAfest! Stanford is center of diagnostic ultrasound research, education and training. On Oct. 18, the school will host ULTRAfest, a full day of free ultrasound instruction open to any medical...
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The Magic of Ultrasound at C-Booth (LA County/University of Southern California)
What happens when you combine Sonosite ultrasound technology, C booth, and enthusiastic medical students? You find the inspiration for an enhanced medical education.
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