Effects of Maryland's global budget revenue model on emergency department utilization and revisits.

BACKGROUND: In 2014, Maryland (MD) implemented a "global budget revenue" (GBR) program that prospectively sets hospital budgets. This program introduced incentives for hospitals to tightly control volume and meet budget targets. We examine GBR's effects on emergency department (ED) visits, admissions, and returns. METHODS: We performed an interrupted time-series analysis with difference-in-differences comparisons using 2012 to 2015 Healthcare Cost Utilization and Project data from MD, New York (NY), and New Jersey (NJ). We examined GBR's effects on ED visits/1,000 population, admissions from the ED, and ED returns at 72 h and 9 days. We also examined rates of admission, intensive care unit (ICU) stay, and in-hospital mortality among returns. To evaluate racial/ethnic and payer outcome disparities among ED returns, we performed a triple differences analysis. RESULTS: ED visits decreased with GBR adoption in MD relative to NY and NJ, by five and six visits/1,000 population, respectively. ED admissions declined relative to NY and NJ, by 0.6% and 1.8%, respectively. There was also a post-GBR decline in ED returns by 0.7%. Admissions among returns declined by 2%, while ICU and in-hospital mortality among returns remained relatively stable. ED return outcomes varied by racial/ethnic and payer group. Non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks experienced a similar decline in returns, while returns remained unchanged among Hispanics/Latinos, widening the disparity gap. Payer group disparities between privately insured and Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured individuals improved, with the disparity reduction most pronounced among the uninsured. CONCLUSIONS: GBR adoption was associated with lower ED utilization and admissions. ED returns and admissions among returns also decreased, while mortality and ICU stays among returns remained stable, suggesting that GBR has not led to adverse patient outcomes from fewer admissions. However, changes in ED return disparities varied by subgroup, indicating that improvements in care transitions may be uneven across patient populations.

The active role of interpreters in medical discourse - An observational study in emergency medicine.

OBJECTIVE: To study communicative tasks executed and related strategies used by patients, health professionals, and medical interpreters. METHODS: English proficient and limited English proficient emergency department patients were observed. The content of patient-hospital staff communication was documented via pen and paper. Key themes and differences across interpreter types were established through qualitative analysis. Themes and differences across interpreter type were vetted and updated through member checking interviews. RESULTS: 6 English proficient and 9 limited English proficient patients were observed. Key themes in communicative tasks included: establishing, maintaining, updating, and repairing understanding and rapport. All tasks were observed with English proficient and limited English proficient patients. The difference with limited English proficient patients was that medical interpreters played an active role in completing communicative tasks. Telephone-based interpreters faced challenges in facilitating communicative tasks based on thematic comparisons with in-person interpreters, including issues hearing and lost information due to the lack of visual cues. CONCLUSIONS: Professional interpreters play an important role in communication between language discordant patients and health professionals that goes beyond verbatim translation. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Training for interpreters and health professionals, and the design of tools for facilitating language discordant communication, should consider the role of interpreters beyond verbatim translation.

Emergency department care coordination strategies and perceived impact under Maryland's hospital payment reforms.

BACKGROUND: Emergency department (ED) care coordination plays an important role in facilitating care transitions across settings. We studied ED care coordination processes and their perceived effectiveness in Maryland (MD) hospitals, which face strong incentives to reduce hospital-based care through global budgets. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews to examine ED care coordination processes and perceptions of effectiveness. Interviews were conducted from January through October 2019 across MD hospital-based EDs. Results were reviewed to assign analytic domains and identify emerging themes. Descriptive statistics of ED care coordination staffing and processes were also calculated. RESULTS: A total of 25 in-depth interviews across 18 different EDs were conducted with ED physician leadership (n = 14) and care coordination staff (CCS) (n = 11). Across all EDs, there was significant variation in the hours and types of CCS coverage and the number of initiatives implemented to improve care coordination. Participants perceived ED care coordination as effective in facilitating safer discharges and addressing social determinants of health; however, adequate access to outpatient providers was a significant barrier. The majority of ED physician leaders perceived MD's policy reform as having a mixed impact, with improved care transitions and overall patient care as benefits, but increased physician workloads and worsened ED throughput as negative effects. CONCLUSIONS: EDs have responded to the value-based care incentives of MD's global budgeting program with investments to enhance care coordination staffing and a variety of initiatives targeting specific patient populations. Although the observed care coordination initiatives were broadly perceived to produce positive results, MD's global budgeting policies were also perceived to produce barriers to optimizing ED care. Further research is needed to determine the association of the various strategies to improve ED care coordination with patient outcomes to inform practice leaders and policymakers on the efficacy of the various approaches.

Lessons Learned From an Evaluation of Serious Gaming as an Alternative to Mannequin-Based Simulation Technology: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: The use of new technology like virtual reality, e-learning, and serious gaming can offer novel, more accessible options that have been demonstrated to improve learning outcomes. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the educational effectiveness of serious game-based simulation training to traditional mannequin-based simulation training and to determine the perceptions of physicians and nurses. We used an obstetric use case, namely electronic fetal monitoring interpretation and decision making, for our assessment. METHODS: This study utilized a mixed methods approach to evaluate the effectiveness of the new, serious game-based training method and assess participants' perceptions of the training. Participants were randomized to traditional simulation training in a center with mannequins or serious game training. They then participated in an obstetrical in-situ simulation scenario to assess their learning. Participants also completed a posttraining perceptions questionnaire. RESULTS: The primary outcome measure for this study was the participants' performance in an in-situ mannequin-based simulation scenario, which occurred posttraining following a washout period. No significant statistical differences were detected between the mannequin-based and serious game-based groups in overall performance, although the study was not sufficiently powered to conclude noninferiority. The survey questions were tested for significant differences in participant perceptions of the educational method, but none were found. Qualitative participant feedback revealed important areas for improvement, with a focus on game realism. CONCLUSIONS: The serious game training tool developed has potential utility in providing education to those without access to large simulation centers; however, further validation is needed to demonstrate if this tool is as effective as mannequin-based simulation.

Reinstating Elective Surgeries in MedStar Health: A Roadmap for Healthcare Organizations.

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections have strained hospital resources worldwide. As a result, many facilities have suspended elective operations and ambulatory procedures. As the incidence of new cases of COVID-19 decreases, hospitals will need policies and algorithms to facilitate safe and orderly return of normal activities. We describe the recommendations of a task force established in a multi-institutional healthcare system for resumption of elective operative and ambulatory procedures applicable to all hospitals and service lines. Methods: MedStar Health created a multidisciplinary task force to develop guidelines for resumption of elective surgeries/procedures. The primary focus areas included the establishment of a governance structure at each healthcare facility, prioritization of elective cases, preoperative severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 testing, and an assessment of the needs and availability of staff, personal protective equipment, and other essential resources. Results: Each hospital president was tasked with establishing a local perioperative leadership team answering directly to them and granted the authority to prioritize elective surgery and ambulatory procedures. An elective surgery algorithm was established using a simplified Medically Necessary Time Sensitive score, with multiple steps requiring a "go/no-go" assessment based on local resources. In addition, mandatory preoperative COVID testing policies were developed and operationalized. Conclusions: Even when the COVID pandemic has passed, hospitals and surgical centers will require COVID screening and testing, case prioritization, and supply chain management to provide care essential to the surgical patient while protecting their safety and that of staff. Our guidelines consider these factors and are applicable to both tertiary academic medical centers and smaller community facilities.

Qualitative findings from a pilot stage implementation of a novel organizational learning tool toward operationalizing the Safety-II paradigm in health care.

'Safety-II' is a new approach to safety, which emphasizes learning proactively about how safety and efficacy are achieved in everyday frontline work. Previous research developed a new lesson-sharing tool designed based on the Safety-II approach: Resilience Engineering Tool to Improve Patient Safety (RETIPS). The tool comprises questions designed to elicit narratives of adaptations that have contributed to effectiveness in care delivery. The purpose of this study is to revise and validate the design of RETIPS. The tool was revised based on feedback of clinicians at a large multi-specialty hospital, resulting in a version customized for anesthesia residents, RETIPS-AnRes. RETIPS-AnRes was administered on a pilot-basis to anesthesia resident groups for a limited period of time. A review of the reports obtained shows a strong alignment of responses with the conceptual basis of the tool, i.e. learning about how things go well in everyday work. The exemplars include both, specific instances of successful patient care, as well as generic routines that contribute to safe and/or effective care delivery. These findings support RETIPS as a tool to operationalize the Safety-II paradigm in healthcare. Lessons and implications for implementation on a wider scale are discussed.

Design and Evaluation of an Integrated, Patient-Focused Electronic Health Record Display for Emergency Medicine.

BACKGROUND: Hospital emergency departments (EDs) are dynamic environments, involving coordination and shared decision making by staff who care for multiple patients simultaneously. While computerized information systems have been widely adopted in such clinical environments, serious issues have been raised related to their usability and effectiveness. In particular, there is a need to support clinicians to communicate and maintain awareness of a patient's health status, and progress through the ED plan of care. OBJECTIVE: This study used work-centered usability methods to evaluate an integrated patient-focused status display designed to support ED clinicians' communication and situation awareness regarding a patient's health status and progress through their ED plan of care. The display design was informed by previous studies we conducted examining the information and cognitive support requirements of ED providers and nurses. METHODS: ED nurse and provider participants were presented various scenarios requiring patient-prioritization and care-planning tasks to be performed using the prototype display. Participants rated the display in terms of its cognitive support, usability, and usefulness. Participants' performance on the various tasks, and their feedback on the display design and utility, was analyzed. RESULTS: Participants provided ratings for usability and usefulness for the display sections using a work-centered usability questionnaire-mean scores for nurses and providers were 7.56 and 6.6 (1 being lowest and 9 being highest), respectively. General usability scores, based on the System Usability Scale tool, were rated as acceptable or marginally acceptable. Similarly, participants also rated the display highly in terms of support for specific cognitive objectives. CONCLUSION: A novel patient-focused status display for emergency medicine was evaluated via a simulation-based study in terms of work-centered usability and usefulness. Participants' subjective ratings of usability, usefulness, and support for cognitive objectives were encouraging. These findings, including participants' qualitative feedback, provided insights for improving the design of the display.

Observational study to understand interpreter service use in emergency medicine: why the key may lie outside of the initial provider assessment.

OBJECTIVE: To characterise the use of interpreter services and other strategies used to communicate with limited English proficient (LEP) patients throughout their emergency department visit. METHODS: We performed a process tracing study observing LEP patients throughout their stay in the emergency department. A single observer completed 47 hours of observation of 103 communication episodes between staff and nine patients with LEP documenting the strategy used to communicate (eg, professional interpreter, family member, own language skills) and duration of conversations for each communicative encounter with hospital staff members. Data collection occurred in a single emergency department in the eastern USA between July 2017 and February 2018. RESULTS: The most common strategy (per communicative encounter) was for the emergency department staff to communicate with the patient in English (observed in 29.1% of encounters). Total time spent in communicating was highest using telephone-based interpreters (32.9% of total time spent communicating) and in-person interpreters (29.2% of total time spent communicating). Communicative mechanism also varied by care task/phase of care with the most use of interpreter services or Spanish proficient staff (as primary communicator) occurring during triage (100%) and the initial provider assessment (100%) and the lowest interpreter service use during ongoing evaluation and treatment tasks (24.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Emergency department staff use various mechanisms to communicate with LEP patients throughout their length of stay. Utilisation of interpreter services was poorest during evaluation and treatment tasks, indicating that this area should be a focus for improving communication with LEP patients.

A usability and safety analysis of electronic health records: a multi-center study.

To characterize the variability in usability and safety of EHRs from two vendors across four healthcare systems (2 Epic and 2 Cerner). Twelve to 15 emergency medicine physicians participated from each site and completed six clinical scenarios. Keystroke, mouse click, and video data were collected. From the six scenarios, two diagnostic imaging, laboratory, and medication tasks were analyzed. There was wide variability in task completion time, clicks, and error rates. For certain tasks, there were an average of a nine-fold difference in time and eight-fold difference in clicks. Error rates varied by task (X-ray 16.7% to 25%, MRI: 0 to 10%, Lactate: 0% to 14.3%, Tylenol: 0 to 30%; Taper: 16.7% to 50%). The variability in time, clicks, and error rates highlights the need for improved implementation optimization. EHR implementation, in addition to vendor design and development, is critical to usable and safe products.

Priorities Related to Improving Healthcare Safety Through Simulation.

STATEMENT: Improving healthcare safety is a worthwhile and important endeavor. Simulation-based activities can help with such a goal through research and training. In this manner, it can focus on education and training, assessment and metrics, process improvement, and culture change to help move forward both patient safety and quality of care.This article will address the following three main topics: (1) designing simulation-based activities to promote high reliability in healthcare, (2) developing simulation-based activities to foster resilience in healthcare systems, and (3) evaluating the impact of adverse events in healthcare and how simulation-based activities can be used to determine and potentially to prevent their cause. These topics will be treated sequentially, providing synopses of concepts and giving examples of research currently being undertaken. It will then highlight current priorities for simulation-based research in this domain by drawing from insights obtained and a targeted literature review.

Are informed policies in place to promote safe and usable EHRs? A cross-industry comparison.

OBJECTIVE: Despite federal policies put in place by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to promote safe and usable electronic health record (EHR) products, the usability of EHRs continues to frustrate providers and have patient safety implications. This study sought to compare government policies on usability and safety, and methods of examining compliance to those policies, across 3 federal agencies: the ONC and EHRs, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and avionics, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and medical devices. Our goal was to identify whether differences in policies exist and, if they do exist, how policies and enforcement mechanisms from other industries might be applied to optimize EHR usability. METHOD: We performed a qualitative study using publicly available governing documents to examine similarities and differences in usability and safety policies across agencies. RESULTS: The policy review and analysis revealed several consistencies within each agency's usability policies. Critical differences emerged in the usability standards and policy enforcement mechanisms utilized by the 3 agencies. The FAA and FDA look at evidence of usability processes and are more prescriptive when it comes to testing final products as compared to the ONC, which relies on attestation and is less prescriptive. DISCUSSION: A comparison of usability policies across industries illustrates key differences between the ONC and other federal agencies. These differences could be contributing to the usability challenges associated with EHRs. CONCLUSION: Our analysis highlights important areas of usability and safety policy from other industries that can better inform ONC policies on EHRs.

Usability evaluation of an emergency department information system prototype designed using cognitive systems engineering techniques.

This article presents an evaluation of novel display concepts for an emergency department information system (EDIS) designed using cognitive systems engineering methods. EDISs assist emergency medicine staff with tracking patient care and ED resource allocation. Participants performed patient planning and orientation tasks using the EDIS displays and rated the display's ability to support various cognitive performance objectives along with the usability, usefulness, and predicted frequency of use for 18 system components. Mean ratings were positive for cognitive performance support objectives, usability, usefulness, and frequency of use, demonstrating the successful application of design methods to create useful and usable EDIS concepts that provide cognitive support for emergency medicine staff. Nurse and provider roles had significantly different perceptions of the usability and usefulness of certain EDIS components, suggesting that they have different information needs while working.

A framework for evaluating electronic health record vendor user-centered design and usability testing processes.

OBJECTIVE: Currently, there are few resources for electronic health record (EHR) purchasers and end users to understand the usability processes employed by EHR vendors during product design and development. We developed a framework, based on human factors literature and industry standards, to systematically evaluate the user-centered design processes and usability testing methods used by EHR vendors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed current usability certification requirements and the human factors literature to develop a 15-point framework for evaluating EHR products. The framework is based on 3 dimensions: user-centered design process, summative testing methodology, and summative testing results. Two vendor usability reports were retrieved from the Office of the National Coordinator's Certified Health IT Product List and were evaluated using the framework. RESULTS: One vendor scored low on the framework (5 pts) while the other vendor scored high on the framework (15 pts). The 2 scored vendor reports demonstrate the framework's ability to discriminate between the variabilities in vendor processes and to determine which vendors are meeting best practices. DISCUSSION: The framework provides a method to more easily comprehend EHR vendors' usability processes and serves to highlight where EHR vendors may be falling short in terms of best practices. The framework provides a greater level of transparency for both purchasers and end users of EHRs. CONCLUSION: The framework highlights the need for clearer certification requirements and suggests that the authorized certification bodies that examine vendor usability reports may need to be provided with clearer guidance.

Communication in the Electronic Age: an Analysis of Face-to-Face Physician-Nurse Communication in the Emergency Department.

We describe the patterns and content of nurse to physician verbal conversations in three emergency departments (EDs) with electronic health records. Emergency medicine physicians and nurses were observed for 2 h periods. Researchers used paper notes to document the characteristics (e.g., partners involved, location of communication, who initiated communication) and content of nurse to physician conversations. Eighteen emergency nurses and physicians (nine each) were observed for a total of 36 h. Two hundred and fifty-five unique communication events were recorded across three emergency departments spread evenly across day, evening, and night shifts. A qualitative analysis of communication event content revealed 5 types of communication and 13 content themes. Content themes covered a broad range of topics including exchange of patient health information, management of the ED, and coordination of orders. Physician participants experienced significantly more communication events than nurse participants, while nurses initiated significantly more communication events than physicians. Most of the communication events occurred at the physician workstation followed by patient treatment areas. This study describes nature of verbal nurse to physician communication in the ED. Direct communication is still used to communicate important information, such as information about patients' status, in EDs with established electronic health records. Our results provide an overview of information exchanged in the ED which can serve as a basis for designing improved information support systems.

Our current approach to root cause analysis: is it contributing to our failure to improve patient safety?

BACKGROUND: Despite over a decade of efforts to reduce the adverse event rate in healthcare, the rate has remained relatively unchanged. Root cause analysis (RCA) is a process used by hospitals in an attempt to reduce adverse event rates; however, the outputs of this process have not been well studied in healthcare. This study aimed to examine the types of solutions proposed in RCAs over an 8-year period at a major academic medical institution. METHODS: All state-reportable adverse events were gathered, and those for which an RCA was performed were analysed. A consensus rating process was used to determine a severity rating for each case. A qualitative approach was used to categorise the types of solutions proposed by the RCA team in each case and descriptive statistics were calculated. RESULTS: 302 RCAs were reviewed. The most common event types involved a procedure complication, followed by cardiopulmonary arrest, neurological deficit and retained foreign body. In 106 RCAs, solutions were proposed. A large proportion (38.7%) of RCAs with solutions proposed involved a patient death. Of the 731 proposed solutions, the most common solution types were training (20%), process change (19.6%) and policy reinforcement (15.2%). We found that multiple event types were repeated in the study period, despite repeated RCAs. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that the most commonly proposed solutions were weaker actions, which were less likely to decrease event recurrence. These findings support recent attempts to improve the RCA process and to develop guidance for the creation of effective and sustainable solutions to be used by RCA teams.

Barriers to comparing the usability of electronic health records.

Despite the widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), usability of many EHRs continues to be suboptimal, with some vendors failing to meet usability standards, resulting in clinician frustration and patient safety hazards. In an effort to increase EHR vendor competition on usability, recommendations have been made and legislation drafted to develop comparison tools that would allow purchasers to better understand the usability of EHR products prior to purchase. Usability comparison can be based on EHR vendor design and development processes, vendor usability testing as part of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology certification program, and usability of implemented products. Barriers exist within the current certified health technology program that prevent effective comparison of usability during each of these stages. We describe the importance of providing purchasers with improved information about EHR usability, barriers to making usability comparisons, and solutions to overcome these barriers.