Medical Staff News

Periodic updates for our medical staff

Inclement Weather and Call Responsibility

Written by Jonathan White on 11/20/2024

The January 2024 ice storm highlighted a problem. Several on-call physicians could not make it in to see patients due to the roads. To be clear, providers are responsible for being here and caring for their patients....

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Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection Prevention

Written by Jonathan White on 9/16/2024

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are a significant problem. These infections are substantial sources of patient morbidity, extended hospital stays, and increased healthcare costs to our hospital and our patients...

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Informed Consent Clarification

Written by Jonathan White on 7/2/2024

CMS recently published revisions and clarifications to Hospital Interpretive Guidelines for Informed Consent. I have attached this memorandum from CMS for your review.

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IT Update for February 2024

Written by Jonathan White on 2/16/2024

There have been ongoing problems with providers canceling PSOs. The cancellation of a PSO has significant background effects in Cerner...

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GI and VTE Prophylaxis

Written by Jonathan White on 2/16/2024

A key aspect of preventing stress ulcers and VTE is constant reassessment. A significant safety concern is missing an opportunity to start prophylaxis...

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Nursing Update December-2023

Written by Arin Zapf, MSN, RN - Chief Nursing Officer on 12/28/2023

Ending our year good note, nursing turnover is down and we are working on several projects for stabilization and growth...

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IT Update October 2023

Written by Jonathan White on 10/27/2023

Here are several more IT updates inlcuding how to access our 1Chart/Cerner remotely, an upcoming change to sepsis detection software, adding images to 1Chart/Cerner, Dragon Mics, and more.

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IT Physician Survey Plan 2023

Written by Jonathan White on 9/15/2023

The HH administration is reviewing the most recent physician survey results, including several IT-related complaints. Two problems physicians mentioned...

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IT Update September 2023

Written by Jonathan White on 9/14/2023

Next week, Dragon will receive a significant upgrade. There are changes to the Dragon bar and other enhancements. Below is a link...

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Helen Keller and Red Bay Medical Records in Cerner

Written by IT Leadership on 8/22/2023

Starting as early as August 28, 2023, you will begin to see patients in 1Chart with medical record numbers starting with “03”. These patients from Helen Keller and Red Bay hospitals will begin to be preloaded into 1Chart. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ignore these records.

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Updated Policy on Transfer Medication Reconciliation

Written by Jonathan White on 8/17/2023

The recently updated Transfer of Patients policy has been updated and clarifies the need for transfer medication reconciliation. This change will affect your workflow but increases patient safety...

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A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO PDMP USAGE - A TOWNHALL EVENT - HUNTSVILLE - SEPTEMBER 18

Written by Jonathan White on 8/16/2023

Auburn University is hosting a two hour training on the UAB Huntsville building on September 18th. The training focuses on the Physician Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP)...

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Physician burnout is on the rise

Written by Jonathan White on 6/27/2023

Last summer, Medscape surveyed 9000+ physicians for the latest Medscape Physician Burnout & Depression Report. Not surprisingly, burnout increased significantly during the COVID years, with 53% of all surveyed expressing burnout...

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More Options for DEA Training Requirement

Written by Jonathan White on 6/6/2023

Here are additional resources to meet with upcoming DEA training requirement. The Medical Association of the State of Alabama is offering

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New DEA Training Requirements

Written by Jonathan White on 5/9/2023

On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 enacted a new one-time, eight-hour training requirement for all Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-registered practitioners...

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Cerner Document Visibility Changes

Written by Jonathan White on 5/8/2023

The Huntsville Hospital Medical Executive Committee wanted to update you on pending Cerner changes that will improve the visibility of clinical documents. These changes are needed to allow community providers to view...

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Nursing Update April 2023

Written by Arin Zapf, MSN, RN - Chief Nursing Officer on 4/19/2023

Coming soon we will have virtual care nurses and safety companions as a part of the care team on 7N/7NE/7NW at HH Main. Virtual care has shown to reduce safety events, ...

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Journey To Zero

Written by Jonathan White on 2/12/2023

NEJM recently published the results of the SafeCare study that looked at the incidence of adverse events during hospitalizations. In a random sample of 2800 admissions, at least one adverse event was found in 23.6% of those admissions.

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CME from UpToDate

Written by Jonathan White on 2/11/2023

Huntsville Hospital provides access to Up To Date, which allows providers to get free CME if they use a personal account on a computer on the HH network. Since each search is considered point-of-care,

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Meet the VPMA

Written by Med Staff Office on 2/10/2023

Jonathan assumed the role of Vice President of Medical Affairs for Huntsville Hospital on Sept. 1, 2022. He grew up in Cullman County and graduated from Cullman High School in 1991, and and completed a B.S. in Biology

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Medical Staff Growth in 2022

Written by Megan Leach on 2/6/2023

The Huntsville Hospital Medical staff grew in 2022.

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