TIP OF THE WEEK
Personal health records
One of the tools included in the Home Health Quality Improvement National Campaign’s Care Transitions Best Practices Intervention Package for February 2008 is the patient’s Personal Health Record. By providing this type of information to your home health patients, you give them the ability to record information about their current care even when there is no other source available.
The personal health record is also helpful in the acute care setting. Knowing a patient’s current medications and allergies can assist emergency personnel in preventing adverse drug events. The record assists the hospital and attending physicians with at-their-fingertips information about the following:
- Chronic conditions
- Important contacts like the patient’s primary care provider and home health agency
- Medications (perhaps providing insight into the individual’s co-morbidities)
- Recent lab results (perhaps providing clues to possible undiagnosed co-morbidities)
Review the personal health record at key visits to make sure that information is current and to provide the home health agency with information about care or changes to physician’s orders. Patients sometimes fail to report emergency care, which may have resulted in medication order changes. Sometimes patients and caregivers are not able to give important medical details at the time of an emergency. Making sure patients understand the importance of their medical history may help them to be better historians and provide pertinent information to EMS and emergency room personnel.
The personal health record also enables your agency to enhance its service to all customers, including the patient, loved ones, primary care physicians, emergency personnel, discharge planners, and hospitalists, as well as all involved in extended care and social service planning.
Click here to download the HHQI National Campaign personal health record.
RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT
Know Your Rights Kit
Medicare beneficiaries have specific rights and resources under the Medicare program that are protected by Ohio KePRO. The Know Your Rights kit, which is free of charge, is a comprehensive collection of informational brochures, health guides, and a handy wallet card for easy reference when a Medicare beneficiary has a concern about his or her care.
To order go to www.ohiokepro.com/shopping and select “Beneficiary” in the “Select a Category” drop-down box.
IN THE NEWS
WII KEEPS ELDERLY ACTIVE IN CARE HOMES
February 7, 2008 -- British Journal of Healthcare Computing & Information Management - - Dan Y Bryn Care Home near Swansea in South Wales is the first care home in the U.K. in a new effort to try out the Nintendo Wii games console to help elderly residents stay mentally and physically active. Read more >>
SANOFI TARGETS ELDERLY WITH NEW TYPE OF FLU SHOT
February 13, 2008 -- Reuters -- French drug company Sanofi-Aventis is seeking European Union approval for a new type of influenza injection it says will protect the elderly. Sanofi Pasteur, the French company's vaccines division, said preliminary trials with 7,000 adult or elderly patients had generated a superior immune response against all tested flu strains compared with current vaccinations. The new process delivers the vaccine using a small "intradermal" (ID) injection that penetrates the dermal layer of the skin, just below the body's outer layer. Read more >>
DRUG-RESISTANT INFECTIONS SOAR
February 14, 2008 -- McKnight’s -- An alarming 70 percent of infections may now be resistant to antibiotics, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) said this week. Read more >>
OHIO KEPRO EVENTS
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Upcoming Education from the Ohio Council for Home Care:
- February 27, 2008: OASIS Integrity: The Battle for Accuracy and Managing Case Mix Weight
Webinar - 11:30 am to 1:00 pm EST - February 29, 2008: Home Care 101 Workshop. Columbus. Ohio
The Tip of the Week Archive is available on the Ohio KePRO Web Site.
Clinically driven. Client focused. Value based.