Becker's Hospital Review

66 CMO / CARE DELIVERY PwC: 5 ways to address social determinants of health By Mackenzie Bean H ealthcare organizations must rethink how they are approaching social de- terminants of health to see significant improvements in disease burden and health costs, according to a report from PwC Health Research Institute. e report is based on PwC's 2019 HRI glob- al consumer survey of nearly 8,000 people across eight territories. HRI researchers also analyzed more than 20 global case stud- ies on social determinants of health plans and interviewed healthcare executives, govern- ment leaders and community organization board members between April and July 2019. Five report takeaways: 1. irty-five percent of respondents cited lack of sleep as the main impediment to a healthier lifestyle, followed by too much tech- nology use (26 percent) and lack of motiva- tion to become healthier (22 percent). 2. Twenty-two percent of respondents who reported "poor" or "very poor" health said mental health issues prevented them from adopting a healthier lifestyle. 3. More than one-third of survey respondents said they had not discussed social determi- nants of health with key stakeholders, such as physicians, pharmacists or therapists. 4. Forty-seven percent of respondents said healthcare providers are not sharing their predictions about what healthcare services patients may require in the future. 5. PwC researchers outlined five steps health- care organizations can take to prioritize social determinants of health based on their reviews of global case studies: • Build the collective will • Develop standard but adaptable frameworks • Generate data insights to inform deci- sion-making • Engage and reflect the community • Measure and redeploy n Ex-Utah nurse pleads guilty to infecting 7 patients with hepatitis C By Gabrielle Masson A former Utah hospital nurse pleaded guilty Sept. 25 to diverting opioids and infecting at least seven people with hepatitis C, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. As part of a federal plea deal, Elet Neilson pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with a consumer product and two counts of fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance. Ms. Neilson, who has a rare strain of hepatitis C, admitted to injecting herself with painkillers before giving them to pa- tients when she was a nurse at two Utah hospitals between 2012 and 2014. Health officials estimate that Ms. Neilson potentially exposed up to 7,200 patients to hepatitis C at both Ogden-based McKay-Dee Hospital and Davis Hospi- tal and Medical Center in Layton. Consequently, at least 16 people were infected with Ms. Neilson's strain of hepatitis C, although she has only charged for seven cases. Officials began offering free testing for patients in contact with her in 2015, and Ms. Neilson subsequently forfeited her nursing license. Police concluded that she did not intention- ally try to pass on the disease. Ms. Neilson will be sentenced Dec. 5 and faces up to 10 years in prison. n 52% of nurses not familiar with term 'antimicrobial stewardship' By Anuja Vaidya M ore than half of registered nurses are not famil- iar with efforts to curb antibiotic overuse, ac- cording to a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control. Researchers from Brigham Young University College of Nursing in Provo, Utah; LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City; and Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah, con- ducted an online survey that included questions assess- ing knowledge of antimicrobial stewardship. The survey includes responses from 316 staff nurses at three hospitals. Two findings: • Fifty-two percent of nurses were not familiar with the term "antimicrobial stewardship." • About 39 percent of nurses indicated that an anti- microbial stewardship program was moderately or extremely important in their healthcare setting. Researchers concluded that while there was a gap in an- timicrobial stewardship knowledge among nurses, they believed those efforts were important and wanted to be involved. n

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