The idea that diagnosis is a single event that happens at a single point of time by a single healthcare provider is a common misconception—one that doesn’t account for the complex, multifaceted system of patients, family members, providers, and technologies. In this episode, Victor Lane Rose, Executive Director, of Aging and Ambulatory Care at ECRI, discusses diagnosis and describes why patient, family, and caregiver participation is especially important in diagnosing Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

When service members transition from the military to civilian life, they’re no longer part of the military health system, but they need healthcare that takes their veteran status into account. In this episode, Shannon Davila, Executive Director of Total Systems Safety at ECRI, describes a new program from ECRI specifically developed to promote veterans’ safety.

Learn more at www.ecri.org/salute.

Clinical algorithms that include considerations of patients’ race have complex effects, sometimes making care disparities worse, and sometimes helping to reduce disparities. In this episode, ECRI’s Kelley Tipton, MPH, Associate Director of Evidence Contracts & Consulting, describes an ECRI-Penn Medicine Evidence-Based Practice Center (EPC) systematic review of the evidence related to racial considerations in clinical algorithms. For more details, read the full EPC report and a systematic review published March 12, 2024, in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Despite progress in syphilis treatment over the past century, a concerning increase in the rate of congenital syphilis in newborns has emerged in recent years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 10 times as many babies were born with congenital syphilis in 2022 than in 2012—the highest number of cases in one year since 1994 and a 31.7% increase in the number of cases recorded in 2021. In this episode, ECRI’s Laura Stone describes reasons for this increase and steps providers can take to combat it.

The market for single-use bronchoscopes has exploded, largely driven by the reduced risk of cross-contamination compared to reusable devices. ECRI Principal Project Engineer Mairead Smith explores some of the trade-offs, research weighing the environmental costs of single-use against reprocessing, and ECRI’s considerations (Device Evaluation members only) for when to select each type of device.

Traditional adult emergency departments (EDs) may be unprepared to care for children, leading to increased risks of missed and delayed diagnoses, errors in treatment, and more. Jennifer Comerford, a Patient Safety Analyst at ECRI, describes these risks and steps organizations can take to prepare for pediatric patients and families can take to protect their loved ones—including children experiencing emergencies in other settings.

In an era of widespread staffing shortages, rising workplace violence threatens physical and psychological harm that could drive even more providers away from healthcare. In this episode, Andrew Furman, ECRI’s Vice President of Clinical Evidence and Safety Solutions, describes the importance of leadership support for a systematic approach to understanding the prevalence of violence and implementing effective steps to reduce the risk to workers across all care settings.

Physical and verbal violence against healthcare staff was featured on the Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2023, including additional recommendations rooted in a Total Systems Safety approach. Register to download the special report at https://www.ecri.org/top-10-patient-safety-concerns-2023-special-report.

Maternal harm and death in the United States is the worst among all wealthy nations, and racial and other disparities mean that some groups are even more severely impacted. ECRI’s Carlye Hendershot, senior patient safety analyst, describes efforts underway to reverse these trends, highlighting steps that policymakers and providers can take to protect patients who are or have recently been pregnant, especially in the postpartum period after they leave the hospital.

As generative AI technologies get more attention on social media, in the news, and even Hollywood labor disputes, providers are putting a new focus on how AI is used in healthcare. ECRI’s Senior Engineering Manager Erin Sparnon joins us to discuss how AI is already being used, how AI developers are learning to overcome racial biases that may have been baked in to AI training data in the past, and how organizations can prepare for even more AI development and implementation.

A pair of exam gloves may cost only 10 cents, but ECRI estimates that U.S. healthcare providers spend more than a half billion dollars on exam gloves each year. In this episode, Julie Miller, a Principal Project Engineer at ECRI, describes how she tests exam gloves in real-world conditions to make sure they stretch, bend, and come on and off readily to protect wearers from infectious diseases.

Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) came onto the market only recently, but are widely prescribed, displacing drugs that have been available since the 1950s. Jose Nery, a Safe Medication Management Fellow with the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), discusses errors related to DOACs reported to ECRI and the ISMP Patient Safety Organization, and strategies that pharmacists and patients can use to limit those risks.

Most patients will never come into contact with the risk manager when they go to the hospital or the doctor's office. But without the risk manager, a crucial layer of umbrella-like protection would be missing to ensure their care is safe and effective. Our guest, Cailin Madrigale, a Risk Management Analyst at ECRI, describes the role risk managers play as we celebrate their contributions during Healthcare Risk Management Week.

ECRI has tested anesthesia machines for decades, adapting our evaluations to account for advances in technology. Brad Bonnette, a Senior Project Officer in ECRI’s Device Evaluation team, describes some of the newest features designed to help providers ensure that patients are maintained at the right level of sedation, and how ECRI expects to see these and similar features adopted going forward.

When patients are at risk for falling or self-harm, hospitals may assign staff or volunteers to sit with them and call if help is needed. If those patients need to be isolated, as in the case of infection control concerns, sitters could be put at risk by being in the same room. ECRI’s Priyanka Shah, a Senior Project Officer in Device Evaluation, has been evaluating remote monitoring telesitting devices to address this need.

Skilled nursing communities manage long term care patients with some of the most intense care needs, with the danger of falling being one of their biggest risks. We spoke with Alex Adams, an Aging Services Analyst and Consultant with ECRI, to discuss the challenges these providers face and how to balance care and patient autonomy.

As networked healthcare devices become more prevalent, healthcare organizations can be increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks. We spoke with Juuso Leinonen, a Principal Project Officer in Device Evaluation at ECRI, to discuss how those vulnerabilities are evolving and what organizations can do to reduce their risk.

In this show we cover 1) testing stockpile ventilators, 2) the pediatric mental health crisis, and 3) ECRI's volunteer trip to Panama.

In this show we cover 1) the testing of isolation gowns, 2) ECRI's Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2023, and 3) the changing face of the aging services industry.

In this show we cover 1) testing personal protective equipment (PPE), 2) early sepsis recognition and treatment, and 3) the evolution of care from inpatient to ambulatory settings. 

In this episode we cover three key topics 1) Philips CPAP device recall 2) best practices for safe vaccine administration 3) overview of ECRI's 2023 Top 10 Health Technology Hazards list