Workforce

For years, Caitrin Houlihan sought solace in drugs and alcohol. She started smoking marijuana at age 12 and gravitated toward painkillers, angel dust, cocaine and heroin in her teens. “Where I grew up, it was very acceptable,” Houlihan, 38, says of her Boston neighborhood. “That’s how I knew how to…
Perhaps the greatest challenge health care organizations face over the next decade is physician engagement. As integration and value-driven care continue to advance, physician leaders will be increasingly called upon to meet the demands of a changing landscape. “Effective physician leadership will…
Brandon (Fla.) Regional Hospital has a new nurse recruitment strategy: It’s hiring registered nurses fresh out of nursing school and enrolling them in weeks- or months-long residency programs to learn the technical skills needed to care for patients in critical care and other specialty areas.
Trustee Talking Points Trustee Talking Points Misuse of prescription opioids is reaching crisis proportions in the United States, with an estimated 44 people dying every day from an overdose of such painkillers. The problem cuts across demographic and geographic categories, enveloping the…
Trustee Talking Points Trustee Talking Points Cost is driving a rise in ambulatory care and a proliferation of outpatient settings. Technology enables these facilities to deliver care across multiple settings. Roughly eight models of ambulatory sites have emerged. Differences between these…
Physicians in the United States spend about 28,000 hours in medical school, residency and fellowship learning to be physicians. But once they start practicing, only 18 minutes of each hour is with patients on an average workday. Administrative and other tasks take up the remaining 48 minutes.…
Infant mortality hits record low The U.S. mortality rate fell 2.3% in 2014, to a record low 582.1 deaths per 100,000 live births. The drop was led by a 13.5% decline in deaths from respiratory illness.