First Into the Lifeboats: Protecting Medical Student Education During the Hahnemann University Hospital Closure.

The announcement of the closure of Philadelphia's Hahnemann University Hospital in June 2019 sent shock waves through the academic community. The closure had a devastating impact on the residents and fellows who trained there, the patients who had long received their care there, and faculty and staff who had provided care there for decades. Since its beginnings, the hospital, established as part of Hahnemann Medical College in 1885, was a major site for medical student education. The authors share the planning before and actions during the crisis that protected the educational experiences of third- and fourth-year medical students at Drexel University College of Medicine assigned to Hahnemann University Hospital. The lessons they learned can be helpful to leadership in academic health systems in the United States facing a diminishing number of clinical training sites for medical and other health professions students, a situation that is likely to worsen as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to weaken the health care ecosystem.

To do or not to do-balancing governance and professional autonomy to abandon low-value practices: a study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Many interventions used in health care lack evidence of effectiveness and may be unnecessary or even cause harm, and should therefore be de-implemented. Lists of such ineffective, low-value practices are common, but these lists have little chance of leading to improvements without sufficient knowledge regarding how de-implementation can be governed and carried out. However, decisions regarding de-implementation are not only a matter of scientific evidence; the puzzle is far more complex with political, economic, and relational interests play a role. This project aims at exploring the governance of de-implementation of low-value practices from the perspectives of national and regional governments and senior management at provider organizations. METHODS: Theories of complexity science and organizational alignment are used, and interviews are conducted with stakeholders involved in the governance of low-value practice de-implementation, including national and regional governments (focusing on two contrasting regions in Sweden) and senior management at provider organizations. In addition, an ongoing process for governing de-implementation in accordance with current recommendations is followed over an 18-month period to explore how governance is conducted in practice. A framework for the governance of de-implementation and policy suggestions will be developed to guide de-implementation governance. DISCUSSION: This study contributes to knowledge about the governance of de-implementation of low-value care practices. The study provides rich empirical data from multiple system levels regarding how de-implementation of low-value practices is currently governed. The study also makes a theoretical contribution by applying the theories of complexity and organizational alignment, which may provide generalizable knowledge about the interplay between stakeholders across system levels and how and why certain factors influence the governance of de-implementation. The project employs a solution-oriented perspective by developing a framework for de-implementation of low-value practices and suggesting practical strategies to improve the governance of de-implementation. The framework and strategies can thereafter be evaluated for validity and impact in future studies.

The closure of a medical practice forces older patients to make difficult decisions: a qualitative study of a natural experiment.

OBJECTIVE: The closure of a primary care practice and the relocation of the physicians and staff to a new office forced patients to decide whether to follow their primary care physicians (PCP) or to transfer their care elsewhere. This study explores the perspectives of the older patients affected by this change. DESIGN: Qualitative study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Two lists of patients older than 60 years from the original office were generated: (1) those who had followed their PCPs to the further practice and (2) those who chose new PCPs at an affiliated nearby clinic. One hundred forty patients from each of the two lists were randomly selected for study. MEASUREMENT: Eight months after the clinic's closure, patients responded to an open-ended question asking patients to describe the transition. Using content analysis, two investigators independently coded all of the written responses. RESULTS: Over 85% of patients in both groups had been with their original PCP for longer than 2 years. Patients that elected to transition their care to a new PCP within their community were older (75 vs 70 years) and more likely to be living alone (38% vs 18%), both p < 0.01. There was still considerable frustration associated with the clinic's closure. Patients from both groups had variable levels of satisfaction with their new primary care arrangements. Patients who moved to the near clinic, now seeing a new physician, commented on being satisfied with the proximity of the site. On the other hand, these patients also expressed longing for the previous arrangement (the building, the staff, and especially their prior physician). Patients who transferred their care to the further clinic indicated a profound loyalty to their PCP and an appreciation of the added features at the new site. Yet, many patients still described being upset with the difficulties associated with the further distance. CONCLUSION: The closing of this practice was difficult for this cohort of older patients. Patients' decisions were considerably influenced by whether they imagined that convenience or their established relationship with their PCP was of a higher priority to them.

Should you close your waiting room? Addressing ED overcrowding through education and staff-based participatory research.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of this project was to develop operational criteria to "close the ED waiting room". METHODS: A prospective, staff-based participatory research model was used. Nurses at an urban ED with 70,000 visits attended a four-hour workshop concerning ED overcrowding. The workshops consisted of two parts, (1) educational sessions that reviewed key concepts of ED overcrowding, followed by (2) discussions of a proposal to "close the waiting room" as a means to decrease overcrowding. During the discussions, nurses were asked to develop guidelines to safely and consistently "close the waiting room." The investigators defined the waiting room as "closed" when (1) ambulatory patients could be taken directly to a room or hallway space for bedside triage, registration, and initiation of care, or (2) patients were triaged in the waiting room and then taken directly to a care space for registration at the bedside. The primary outcome measure of the project was the development of guidelines to open (use) or close (not use) the ED waiting room. RESULTS: Seventy three of 100 nurses participated in the workshops. ED waiting room closure criteria were developed as 4 "Questions to Guide the Use of the Waiting Room." These dichotomous (yes/no) questions reflected issues of available staff, available care space (traditional ED bed spaces and designated hall spaces), patient acuity, and additional surge capacity. DISCUSSION: Staff-based participatory research was an effective method to design an operational change. Nurses developed four explicit criteria describing when the waiting room should be closed.

ALARA considerations for the whole body neutron irradiation facility source removal project at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

This paper describes the activities that were involved with the safe removal of fourteen PuBe sources from the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Whole Body Neutron Irradiation Facility (WBNIF). As part of a Department of Energy and BNL effort to reduce the radiological inventory, the WBNIF was identified as having no future use. In order to deactivate the facility and eliminate the need for nuclear safety management and long-term surveillance, it was decided to remove the neutron sources and dismantle the facility. In addition, the sources did not have DOT Special Form documentation so they would need to be encapsulated once removed for offsite storage or disposal. The planning and the administrative as well as engineering controls put in place enabled personnel to safely remove and encapsulate the sources while keeping exposure as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).

Planning, Designing, Building, and Moving a Large Volume Maternity Service to a New Labor and Birth Unit.

BACKGROUND: Our health system recognized the need to update facility space and associated technology for the labor and birth unit within our large volume perinatal service to improve the patient experience, and enhance safety, quality of care, and staff satisfaction. When an organization decides to invest $30 million dollars in a construction project such as a new labor and birth unit, many factors and considerations are involved. Financial support, planning, design, and construction phases of building a new unit are complex and therefore require strong interdisciplinary collaboration, leadership, and project management. METHODS: The new labor and birth unit required nearly 3 years of planning, designing, and construction. Patient and family preferences were elicited through consumer focus groups. Multiple meetings with the administrative and nursing leadership teams, staff nurses, nurse midwives, and physicians were held to generate ideas for improvement in the new space. Involving frontline clinicians and childbearing women in the process was critical to success. The labor and birth unit moved to a new patient tower in a space that was doubled in square footage and geographically now on three separate floors. In the 6 months prior to the move, many efforts were made in our community to share our new space. The marketing strategy was very detailed and creative with ongoing input from the nursing leadership team. The nursing staff was involved in every step along the way. It was critical to have champions as workflow teams emerged. We hosted simulation drills and tested scenarios with new workflows. Move day was rehearsed with representatives of all members of the perinatal team participating. RESULTS: These efforts ultimately resulted in a move time of ~5 hours. Birth volumes increased 7% within the first 6 months. After 3 years in our new space, our birth volumes have risen nearly 15% and are still growing. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Key processes and roles responsible for a successful build, efficient and safe move day, and optimal operational utility, as anticipated, of a new labor and birth unit in a large volume perinatal service are detailed.

Unexpected tissue and the biobank that closed: an exploration of value and the momentariness of bio-objectification processes.

Unanticipated situations can arise in biobanking. This paper empirically documents unexpected situations at the anonymous biobank 'Xbank'. Firstly, Xbank received an unexpected and significant quantity of tissue from the historical archive of a hospital network. Secondly, Xbank had its funding withdrawn before the designated end date for the grant, meaning the bank needed to either re-house or destroy its holdings. This paper articulates and uses the theoretical frameworks of bio-objectification and tissue economies to analyse the experiences of Xbank and draw out further implications of the potential precariousness of biobanking practice. The case study allows an inspection of how the value of tissue is configured and reconfigured as institutional contexts shift. We introduce the notion of momentariness as a way of grappling with the related temporariness and perpetualness of biobanking practice in both a theoretical and practical policy context.

The closure of rural hospitals in Saskatchewan: method or madness?

On April 14, 1993 the Minister of Health of the Province of Saskatchewan announced the closure of 52 of the 112 small hospitals using the criteria of: size, utilization for two consecutive years and distance to the nearest-neighbouring hospital. Amazingly, that government was re-elected. This study compared two models of reasons for hospital closure: the government criteria; and historical population, resource, and utilization factors, gathered for the year prior to closure and a decade earlier. Of the 112 small hospitals in Saskatchewan, the 10 hospitals in the frontier area were not included. Hospitals in the settled part of the province were divided into two distinct zones. The Northern zone, with 53 hospitals is characterized by rich dark soil and prosperous trade centres and the Southern zone, with 49 hospitals is characterized by light brown sandy soil and oil and gas exploration centres. Two discriminant models were developed. The government model consisted of size, two years of utilization and distance. The historical model consisted of population, resource, and utilization factors for the years 1981/1982 and 1991/1992. The dependent variable for both models was hospital status (open = 1 and closed = 0). The government model accurately predicted 91.18% of the closure decisions. The historical model had a classification accuracy of 95.10% for the whole of settled Saskatchewan, 96.23% for the Northern zone, and 95.92% for the Southern zone. The historical model was more accurate than the government model. Closing a hospital is a sad event. The manner in which the government closed nearly half of the small hospitals in Saskatchewan and gained re-election is an important account of responsible public policy. The historical model developed to examine this story takes public policy one step further in that it is possible for governments to recognize signals that indicate when communities should undertake orderly transitions in the operation of their health services facilities.

Needs-based planning: evaluation of a level-of-care planning model.

With the closure of a number of provincial psychiatric hospitals planned, the Ministry of Health of Ontario has commissioned a series of planning projects to identify alternative placements for current hospital patients. The goal is to match need to care in the least restrictive setting. A systematic, clinically driven planning process was implemented that involved three steps: development of a continuum of levels of care representing increasingly intensive and more restrictive supports, development of criteria and decision rules for placement, and comprehensive needs assessment of current patients using the Colorado Client Assessment Record. Results showed that only 10% of current inpatients need to remain in the hospital, and over 60% could live independently in the community with appropriate supports. Evidence supports concurrent validity of the planning model, but further work is needed to assess whether recommended levels of care effectively meet consumer needs in the least restrictive setting.

Adapting MARSSIM for FUSRAP site closure.

The Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) provides a coherent, technically defensible process for establishing that exposed surfaces satisfy site cleanup requirements. Unfortunately, many sites have complications that challenge a direct application of MARSSIM. Example complications include Record of Decision (ROD) requirements that are not MARSSIM-friendly, the potential for subsurface contamination, and incomplete characterization information. These types of complications are typically the rule, rather than the exception, for sites undergoing radiologically-driven remediation and closure. One such site is the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) Linde site in Tonawanda, New York. Cleanup of the site is currently underway. The Linde site presented a number of challenges to designing and implementing a closure strategy consistent with MARSSIM. This paper discusses some of the closure issues confronted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District at the Linde site and describes how MARSSIM protocols were adapted to address these issues.

Leading a hospital closure.

Hospital closures have become more common. The challenges facing a nursing leader in this situation are complex and difficult. This author suggests that looking for new beginnings rather than focusing on endings created an approach to closing a public hospital. The article includes approaches to employee morale, staffing, and patient care.

Closing ... closing ... closed.

What can a board do when all signs point to the need to close a hospital, but its community and the state's attorney general, is not buying it? Here's some legal guidance if you're in that position.

Disentangling rhetoric and reality: an international Delphi study of factors and processes that facilitate the successful implementation of decisions to decommission healthcare services.

BACKGROUND: The need to better understand processes of removing, reducing, or replacing healthcare services that are no longer deemed essential or effective is common across publicly funded healthcare systems. This paper explores expert international opinion regarding, first, the factors and processes that shape the successful implementation of decommissioning decisions and, second, consensus as to current best practice. METHODS: A three round Delphi study of 30 international experts was undertaken. In round one, participants identified factors that shape the outcome of decommissioning processes; responses were analysed using conventional content analysis. In round two, responses to 88 Likert scale statements derived from round one were analysed using measures of the degree of consensus. In round three the statements that achieved low consensus were then repeated but presented alongside the overall results from round two. The responses were re-analysed to observe whether the degree of consensus had changed. Any open comments provided during the Delphi study were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Participants strongly agreed that three considerations should ideally inform decommissioning decisions: quality and patient safety, clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. Although there was less consensus as to which considerations informed such decisions in practice, those that drew the most agreement were: cost/budgetary pressures, government intervention and capital costs/condition. Important factors in shaping decommissioning were: strength of executive leadership, strength of clinical leadership, quality of communications, demonstrable benefits and clarity of rationale/case for change. Amongst the 19 best practice recommendations high consensus was achieved for: establishing a strong leadership team, engaging clinical leaders from an early stage, and establishing a clear rationale for change. CONCLUSIONS: There was a stark contrast between what experts thought should determine decommissioning decisions and what does so in practice; a contrast mirrored in the distinction the participants drew between the technical and political aspects of decommissioning processes. The best practice recommendations which we grouped into three categories--change management and implementation; evidence and information; and relationships and political dimensions--can be seen as contemporary responses or strategies to manage the tensions that emerged between the rhetoric and reality of implementing decommissioning decisions.

Hospital closure: reflections of a former nurse executive.

In this interview, a former nurse executive describes her experiences as she participated in the closing of a hospital. She describes the sequence of selected events, some of her feelings, and feelings that were experienced by staff as they continued to provide services while dismantling the organization. She associates these feelings with those that occur in crises associated with stressful events. Recommendations are offered that should be helpful to nurse executives in similar situations.