Becker's Hospital Review

82 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Dying patients' wishes ignored nearly 40% of time in study By Anuja Vaidya N early 40 percent of chronically ill patients nearing the end of life who had physician orders limiting treatment received intensive care that was inconsistent with those orders, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Patients with chronic illness frequently use physician orders for life-sustaining treatment to document their wishes re- garding end-of-life care. For the study, researchers examined 1,818 chronic illness patients at a two-hospital academic health system who died be- tween Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2017. e patients were hospitalized for up to six months before they died. Of the 1,818 patients: • 401 had physician orders for "com- fort measures only" • 761 had orders for "limited addition- al interventions" • 656 had orders for full treatment Researchers found 31 percent of patients with comfort-only orders, 46 percent of patients with limited-interventions orders and 62 percent with full-treatment orders were admitted to the intensive care unit. Among patients with comfort-only and limited-interventions order, 38 per- cent received ICU care not in line with their orders. Researchers also found patients admit- ted for traumatic injury were significant- ly more likely to receive care not in line with their orders, but cancer patients were more likely to receive care in line with their physician orders. n Trump's budget proposal would cut nursing programs By Gabrielle Masson P resident Donald Trump's budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2021, re- leased Feb. 10, would eliminate several nursing programs under the HHS and Department of Education. If the budget passes, most Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs would be eliminated, with the exception of the Nurse Corps program, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, which opposes the budget. "Federal funding for Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development Programs is es- sential to our nursing schools, students and the profession," said Ann Cary, PhD, RN, chair of the AACN's board of directors. "Without adequate funding for these programs, the health and well-being of all Americans will suffer." The AACN believes the budget cuts undermine the government's long-stand- ing commitment to educating the future nursing workforce to meet healthcare needs in the U.S. The plan would also cut Medicaid and ACA spending by a combined $1 tril- lion, according to The New York Times. n 68% of hospital leaders say their digital health tools are lacking in patient experience By Andrea Park T hough health systems' adoption of digital health tools is rapidly increas- ing, with half calling implementation a "high" or "critical" priority, the vast majority of those tools are not delivering the best possible patient expe- rience, a Center for Connected Medicine report finds. Here are three key findings from CCM's "The Future of the Digital Patient Expe- rience" report, which surveyed more than 130 healthcare professionals across the U.S., with nearly 95 percent holding management positions, spanning business, IT, cybersecurity, clinical and informatics roles. The CCM is jointly op- erated by Pittsburgh-based UPMC, GE Healthcare and Nokia. 1. More than three-quarters said their organizations offer at least one digital health tool to patients; 25 percent offer four or more. While one-quarter of re- spondents whose organizations have yet to deploy digital health solutions, only 3 percent of those surveyed said they did not have any future plans to do so. 2. For most healthcare organizations, digital health is a major priority: A total of 50 percent of respondents labeled deployment of these tools as a "critical" or "high" priority, with larger organizations more likely to make it a critical priority. 3. Despite this enthusiasm for digital health tools, however, they have yet to reach their full potential. Only 40 percent said their organizations have suc- cessfully integrated digital health offerings into the overall patient experience, and only 32 percent agreed with the statement that their organizations are able to deliver digital patient experiences "on par with the best digital con- sumer experience." n

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