Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HACs) have risen in frequency since the outbreak of COVID-19 after years when rates were falling. This series examines the reasons and steps we can take to reduce these infections. On this episode, we focus on central line-associated bloodstream infections, or CLABSIs.

Guest speaker:

Richard Beaver, B.S. Chem, MBB, CPHQ

Senior Consulting Director

Vizient

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Principal

Clinical Operations and Quality

Vizient

Show Notes:

[00:31] Effect of placement on line management

[04:12] Impact of shaving

[06:18] Actions for preventing CLABSIs

[08:23] Engaging physicians and nurses – not dictating to them

Links | Resources:

Rick Beaver’s contact email: [email protected]

CMS Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) fact sheet Click here

CMS Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) reduction program Click here

Information on Vizient’s Clinical Data Base (CDB) Click here

AHRQ tools to reduce HACs Click here

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Even before the pandemic, health care organizations struggled with Hospital-Acquired Conditions (HACs), and the outbreak of COVID-19 only worsened infection rates. In this five-part series, we will examine four leading HACs to discuss why their rates went up and proven approaches hospital staff can use to reduce them.

Guest speaker:

Richard Beaver, B.S. Chem, MBB, CPHQ

Senior Consulting Director

Vizient

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Principal

Clinical Operations and Quality

Vizient

Show Notes:

[01:05] Situation today regarding HACs, as seen in the Vizient Clinical Data Base (CDB)

[01:45] Major HACs

[02:21] Effect of the pandemic

[03:17] Insights post-COVID

[07:15] Line placement: who owns the lines

[08:52] Impactful HACs

[10:06] Role of clinician resilience

[11:24] Financial implications/penalties

Links | Resources:

Rick Beaver’s contact email: [email protected]

CMS Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) fact sheet Click here

CMS Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) reduction program Click here

Information on Vizient’s Clinical Data Base (CDB) Click here

AHRQ tools to reduce HACs Click here

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“We are seeing increased demand, lots of questions out there from people who’ve had COVID, and questions that, quite honestly, primary care physicians aren’t comfortable being able to answer.” So says Dr. Maddie McDowell of Sg2 about care for COVID long-haulers. She continues, “This is a field that’s very new, it’s evolving weekly, and so being able to provide expertise in this specific area is really important for all communities.” In this episode, we finish our examination of the COVID clinic at the University of Texas Medical Branch that does provide that expertise.

Guest speakers:

Madeline McDowell, MD

Principal, Intelligence

Sg2

Rex McCallum, MD

Chief Physician Executive

UTMB Health

Justin Seashore, MD

Director, Post Recovery COVID-19 Recovery Clinic

UTMB Health

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Associate Vice President

Clinical Resources

Vizient

Show Notes:

[00:40] Continuing COVID long-hauler clinics

[02:56] Getting started

[04:54] Patients with hypertension and diabetes

[05:40] Significant improvement

[07:15] Support of leadership and staff

[07:41] Telemedicine

[09:09] Post-COVID symptoms

[10:14] Dealing with vaccine hesitancy

[10:56] The future of the clinic after COVID

Links | Resources:

UTMB Health: Post COVID Recovery Clinic Click here

COVID “Long Haulers”: Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 Click here

Vizient webcast: Care approaches for COVID-19 long-haulers Click here

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In this episode, we continue our discussion on COVID long-haulers, those who contracted COVID-19 and cannot shake off the effects weeks or months later. We feature a clinic developed to care for long-haulers and examine treatment approaches.

Guest speakers:

Madeline McDowell, MD

Principal, Intelligence

Sg2

Rex McCallum, MD

Chief Physician Executive

UTMB Health

Justin Seashore, MD

Director, Post Recovery COVID-19 Recovery Clinic

UTMB Health

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Associate Vice President

Clinical Resources

Vizient

Show Notes:

[00:34] Developing the care plan

[01:35] Types of patients

[03:32] Defining post-COVID patients

[04:30] Leading symptoms

[06:53] Results of clinic care

[07:59] Getting paid

[10:07] Approach to imaging

[11:19] Significant improvement

[12:39] The fatigue component

Links | Resources:

UTMB Health: Post COVID Recovery Clinic Click here

COVID “Long Haulers”: Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 Click here

Vizient webcast: Care approaches for COVID-19 long-haulers Click here

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“Long-haulers” are those who contracted COVID-19 and cannot shake off the effects weeks or months later. These patients can experience continual impaired lung function, mental incapacity, dizziness, tiredness and other maladies lingering on from the disease. This podcast features excerpts from a recent webcast that discussed one health care organization’s clinic outreach to COVID long-haulers as well as Sg2 research into the various conditions represented.

Guest speakers:

Madeline McDowell, MD

Principal, Intelligence

Sg2

Rex McCallum, MD

Chief Physician Executive

UTMB Health

Justin Seashore, MD

Director, Post Recovery COVID-19 Recovery Clinic

UTMB Health

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Associate Vice President

Clinical Resources

Vizient

Show Notes:

[02:05] Conditions caused by long-term COVID

[02:20] Treating with multiple specialists

[02:54] The time is now

[04:36] Becoming aware of other symptoms associated with COVID

[06:39] Defining the post-COVID patient

[08:10] Getting the word to the community

[09:41] Referrals

[10:03] Patient assessments

Links | Resources:

UTMB Health: Post COVID Recovery Clinic Click here

COVID “Long Haulers”: Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 Click here

Vizient webcast: Care approaches for COVID-19 long-haulers Click here

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In this episode, we continue our discussion about a novel approach to alleviate the stress on health care workers. Developed for the US Army, Stress First Aid is proving beneficial to dealing with the ongoing crises and challenges faced in health care organizations every day, particularly during the pandemic.

Guest speaker:

Courtney Gidengil, MD, MPH

Senior Physician Policy Researcher

Director, Boston Office

The Rand Corporation

Associate Physician in Pediatrics

Boston Children’s Hospital

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Associate Vice President

Clinical Resources

Vizient

Show Notes:

[00:26] Stress First Aid model—the color code designations

[02:03] Seven Cs

[03:14] Benefits of participating

[04:24] First steps

[05:46] Individual participation

[06:53] The site champion

Links | Resources:

Vizient’s SFA Overview for Health Care Professionals Click here

Workplace Stress Impacts Health Care Workers (U of Michigan) Click here

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Already in a high-stress occupation, health care workers have been severely tested by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While others have stayed at home, health care workers have been unable to practice isolation but have had to go into a workplace where they confront the sickest in the population, where staffing has often been inadequate and e. Burn-out is rife and finding a way to deal with stress a priority. Stress First Aid is a program developed to allow health care workers to use their peer-to-peer relationships to increase resilience and improve their well-being.

Guest speaker:

Courtney Gidengil, MD, MPH

Senior Physician Policy Researcher

Director, Boston Office

The Rand Corporation

Associate Physician in Pediatrics

Boston Children’s Hospital

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Associate Vice President

Clinical Resources

Vizient

Show Notes:

[01:05] Defining “Stress First Aid”

[02:24] Impact of COVID

[03:30] Clinical decisions and stress

[04:40] Using peer-to-peer connections

[06:30] The Stress First Aid program

Links | Resources:

Vizient’s SFA Overview for Health Care Professionals Click here

Workplace Stress Impacts Health Care Workers (U of Michigan) Click here

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On this episode, we continue our discussion on the reasons and remedies for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among the health care staff.

Guest speakers:

Michele Andrasik, PhD, EdM, MS, MA

Senior Staff Scientist

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Clinical Assistant Professor

Department of Global Health

University of Washington

Tony Reed, MD, PhD, MBA

Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer

Temple University Health System

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Associate Vice President

Clinical Resources

Vizient

Show Notes:

[00:39] Issues around incentives

[02:30] Vaccine choice

[04:33] Issues around mandates

Links | Resources:

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: 12 Things You Need to Know (Johns Hopkins) Click here

How to Talk to Someone About Vaccine Hesitancy (Cleveland Clinic) Click here

Vizient webinar on addressing vaccine hesitancy among health care workers Click here

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Health care workers can be hesitant to take the COVID vaccines for a number of reasons. To address this challenge, organizations can take a number of approaches, from vaccine mandates to incentive payments, yet these tactics may not really address the strong, even deep-seated, concerns staff members may have about vaccination. On this episode, we continue our discussion about addressing vaccine hesitancy.

Guest speakers:

Michele Andrasik, PhD, EdM, MS, MA

Senior Staff Scientist

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Clinical Assistant Professor

Department of Global Health

University of Washington

Tony Reed, MD, PhD, MBA

Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer

Temple University Health System

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Associate Vice President

Clinical Resources

Vizient

Show Notes:

[01:30] Temple University Hospital: vaccines not mandatory, all groups consulted

[06:00] Getting out the news and the staff voice

[09:28] Easy access: walk-in clinic

[11:06] Strategies for listening to those who are vaccine hesitant; vaccine “equity”

Links | Resources:

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: 12 Things You Need to Know (Johns Hopkins) Click here

How to Talk to Someone About Vaccine Hesitancy (Cleveland Clinic) Click here

Vizient webinar on addressing vaccine hesitancy among health care workers (Drs. Villanueva, Andrasik, Reed) Click here 

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For a variety of reasons, from concerns about side effects to lack of trust of societal institutions, many health care workers are hesitant about taking COVID vaccinations. In this episode, Tom discusses this hesitancy with two leading experts in the health care field to examine why this response is occurring and what organizations can do to encourage staff members to have the vaccines.

Guest speakers:

Michele Andrasik, PhD, EdM, MS, MA

Senior Staff Scientist

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Clinical Assistant Professor

Department of Global Health

University of Washington

Tony Reed, MD, PhD, MBA

Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer

Temple University Health System

Moderator:

Tomas Villanueva, DO, MBA, FACPE, SFHM

Associate Vice President

Clinical Resources

Vizient

Show Notes:

[00:50] Vizient survey results on vaccine hesitancy at member organizations

[03:09] A lack of trust in institutions and systems

[06:30] A different way of looking at side effects

[07:06] COVID and social determinants of health

[08:24] Health care staff who are often the most hesitant

Links | Resources:

COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy: 12 Things You Need to Know (Johns Hopkins) Click here

How to Talk to Someone About Vaccine Hesitancy (Cleveland Clinic) Click here

Vizient webinar on addressing vaccine hesitancy among health care workers (Drs. Villanueva, Andrasik, Reed) Click here

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