Becker's Hospital Review

143 FINANCE CMO / CARE DELIVERY ACP: Med school faculty should align out-of-class behavior with classroom lessons By Alyssa Rege M edical school faculty's ethics and behavior should match the lessons they aim to teach students in the classroom, according to a paper by the Amer- ican College of Physicians published in the Annals of Internal Medicine Feb. 27. e paper's authors posit a certain "hidden curriculum" is embedded into each student's learning during their medical school educa- tion. e curriculum comprises the positive and negative lessons students absorb from faculty members' attitudes and behaviors, which then influence the student's own un- derstanding of the profession. According to the authors, more than half of 2016 medical school graduates said they ex- perienced a disconnect between what they were taught about professional behaviors and attitudes and what they saw being demon- strated by faculty. An example of that discon- nect, the authors note, is the inherent system- ic bias against primary care, which reportedly "contributes to the U.S. healthcare system be- ing unprepared to meet the needs of an aging population." e ACP outlines three recommendations to realign students' understandings and expec- tations with faculty's behavior outside of the classroom. • Lessons outside of the classroom must par- allel formal education. Faculty and senior staff members should continuously model empathy, encourage reflection and encour- age students to talk about positive and neg- ative behaviors in training. • e learning environment should encour- age respect and honesty and welcome ques- tions about ethics, professionalism and care delivery. Teamwork must also be taught and demonstrated. • Leaders should clearly communicate values in everyday decision-making and expecta- tions of professionalism in a culture where patient well-being is a core value. "e hidden curriculum in medicine presents challenges but also opportunities to help re- shape not only education but also the culture of medicine," the authors conclude. n Uber launches 'Uber Health' to transport patients to physicians' offices By Alyssa Rege R ide-hailing service app Uber announced March 1 its in- tent to team up with various healthcare organizations nationwide to provide transportation for patients trav- eling to and from medical appointments, according to NPR. The service, Uber Health, aims to help patients make it to their medical appointments on time. For patients without smartphones, receptionists or other staffers at participating physicians' offices can schedule their rides for immediate pickup or dropoff up to 30 days in advance. "Transportation barriers are the greatest for vulnerable populations," said Chris Weber, general manager of Uber Health, adding the service "will provide reliable, comfort- able transportation for patients," but will not act as a sup- plement to ambulances for patients in critical need of care. Rather than operating through an app, Uber Health will send passengers their ride information via text message. Drivers, however, will still locate and pick up riders through the Uber app, allowing them to abide by the patient privacy laws outlined in HIPAA. Roughly 100 healthcare facilities nationwide participated in Uber Health's test program. The company said it plans to roll out the feature to participating facilities gradually. Offi- cials also said they hope to introduce an option for passen- gers to receive a call with their trip details to their landline, according to the report. n Patient safety issues could drive $383B in healthcare costs by 2022 By Megan Knowles B y 2022, avoidable adverse patient safety events across the U.S. and Western Europe, including healthcare-associated infections, sepsis and di- agnostic errors, could cost $383.7 billion, according to a Frost & Sullivan analysis. Frost & Sullivan assessed the 30 most pressing safety adverse events affecting patients, caregivers and health- care organizations worldwide. These events also includ- ed medication safety, pressure ulcers, antibiotic resis- tance and hand hygiene non-compliance. All together, these adverse events affected around 91.8 million patient admissions in the U.S. and Western Europe, which resulted in approximately 1.95 million deaths. "Up to 17 percent of all hospitalizations are affected by one or more adverse events and around 15 percent of hospital expenditure is attributable to addressing them," said Anuj Agarwal, transformational healthcare senior re- search analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "The fact that 30 to 70 percent of these are potentially avoidable makes it im- perative to prevent them from happening." Care providers should focus their patient safety value proposition toward areas with significant disruptive po- tential, such as antibiotic resistance, cybersecurity, avoid- able emergency department admissions, pressure ulcers and sepsis, Mr. Agarwal said. n

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