Centralization and democratization: Managing crisis communication in health care delivery.

BACKGROUND: Communication is an essential organizational process for responding to adversity. Managers are often advised to communicate frequently and redundantly during crises. Nonetheless, systematic investigation of how information receivers perceive organizational communication amid crises has remained lacking. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to characterize features of effective internal crisis communication by examining how information-sharing processes unfolded during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODOLOGY: Between June and August 2020, we conducted 55 semistructured interviews with emergency department workers practicing in a variety of roles. We analyzed interview transcripts following constructivist constant comparative methods. RESULTS: Our findings revealed that at the onset of COVID-19 pandemic response, emergency department workers struggled with immense fear and anxiety amid high uncertainty and equivocality. Frequent and redundant communication, however, resulted in information delivery and uptake problems, worsening anxiety, and interpersonal tension. These problems were ameliorated by the emergence of contextual experts who centralized and democratized communication. Centralization standardized information received across roles, work schedules, and settings while decoupling internal communication from turbulence in the environment. Democratization made information accessible in a way that all could understand. It also ensured information senders' receptiveness to feedback from information receivers. Centralization and democratization together worked to reduce sensed uncertainty and equivocality, which reduced anxiety and interpersonal tension. CONCLUSION: Establishing frequent and redundant communication strategies does not necessarily address the anxiety and interpersonal tension produced by uncertainty and equivocality in crises. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Centralization and democratization of crisis communication can reduce anxiety, improve coordination, and promote a safer workplace and patient care environment.

How psychological safety and feeling heard relate to burnout and adaptation amid uncertainty.

BACKGROUND: Psychological safety-the belief that it is safe to speak up-is vital amid uncertainty, but its relationship to feeling heard is not well understood. PURPOSE: The aims of this study were (a) to measure feeling heard and (b) to assess how psychological safety and feeling heard relate to one another as well as to burnout, worsening burnout, and adaptation during uncertainty. METHODOLOGY: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of emergency department staff and clinicians (response rate = 52%; analytic N = 241) in July 2020. The survey measured psychological safety, feeling heard, overall burnout, worsening burnout, and perceived process adaptation during the COVID-19 crisis. We assessed descriptive statistics and construct measurement properties, and we assessed relationships among the variables using generalized structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Psychological safety and feeling heard demonstrated acceptable measurement properties and were correlated at r = .54. Levels of feeling heard were lower on average than psychological safety. Psychological safety and feeling heard were both statistically significantly associated with lower burnout and greater process adaptation. Only psychological safety exhibited a statistically significant relationship with less worsening burnout during crisis. We found evidence that feeling heard mediates psychological safety's relationship to burnout and process adaptation. CONCLUSION: Psychological safety is important but not sufficient for feeling heard. Feeling heard may help mitigate burnout and enable adaptation during uncertainty. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: For health care leaders, expanding beyond psychological safety to also establish a feeling of being heard may further reduce burnout and improve care processes.

Masked and distanced: a qualitative study of how personal protective equipment and distancing affect teamwork in emergency care.

BACKGROUND: Newly intensified use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in emergency departments presents teamwork challenges affecting the quality and safety of care at the frontlines. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a qualitative study to categorize and describe barriers to teamwork posed by PPE and distancing in the emergency setting. METHODS: We conducted 55 semi-structured interviews between June 2020 and August 2020 with personnel from two emergency departments serving in a variety of roles. We then performed a thematic analysis to identify and construct patterns of teamwork challenges into themes. RESULTS: We discovered two types of challenges to teamwork: material barriers related to wearing masks, gowns and powered air-purifying respirators, and spatial barriers implemented to conserve PPE and limit coronavirus exposure. Both material and spatial barriers resulted in disrupted communication, roles and interpersonal relationships, but they did so in unique ways. Material barriers muffled information flow, impeded team member recognition and role/task division, and reduced belonging and cohesion while increasing interpersonal strain. Spatial barriers resulted in mediated communication and added physical and emotional distance between teammates and patients. CONCLUSION: Our findings identify specific aspects of how intensified PPE use disrupts teamwork and can inform efforts to ensure care quality and safety in emergency settings as PPE use continues during and, potentially beyond, the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic.

Building Back Better: Applying Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic to Expand Critical Information Access.

BACKGROUND: The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic generated an unprecedented volume of evolving clinical guidelines that strained existing clinical information systems and necessitated rapid innovation in emergency departments (EDs). OBJECTIVES: Our team aimed to harness new COVID-19-related reliance on digital clinical support tools to re-envision how all clinical guidelines are stored and accessed in our ED. METHODS: We used a design-thinking approach including empathizing, defining the problem, ideating, prototyping, and testing to develop a low-cost, homegrown clinical information hub: E*Drive. To measure impact, we compared web traffic on E*Drive to our legacy cloud-based folder system and conducted a survey of end-users using a validated health technology utilization instrument. RESULTS: Our final product, E*Drive, is a centralized clinical information hub storing everything from clinical guidelines to discharge resources. Clinical guidelines are standardized and housed within the high-traffic E*Drive platform to increase accessibility. Since launch, E*Drive has averaged 84 unique weekly users, compared with less than one weekly user on the legacy system. We surveyed 52 clinicians for a total response rate of 47%. Prior to the E*Drive rollout, 12.5% of ED clinicians felt confident accessing clinical information on the legacy system, whereas 76.6% of ED clinicians felt they could more easily access clinical information using E*Drive. CONCLUSION: The COVID pandemic revealed vulnerabilities within our information dissemination system and presented an opportunity to improve clinical information delivery. Centralized web-based clinical information hubs designed around the clinician end-user experience can increase clinical guideline access in the ED.

Hemoptysis? Try Inhaled Tranexamic Acid.

BACKGROUND: Tranexamic acid (TXA) is a synthetic anti-fibrinolytic agent used to prevent and treat various bleeding complications. In many studies, investigators have evaluated its utility and safety orally, intravenously, and topically, but few studies have described the potential benefits of nebulized TXA. CASE REPORT: We present a case of massive hemoptysis treated with nebulized TXA in the emergency department (ED) that led to the cessation of bleeding and avoidance of endotracheal intubation. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: In massive hemoptysis, rapidly available nebulized TXA may be considered a therapeutic option, serving either as primary therapy or as a bridge until other definitive therapies can be arranged.

Quality improvement in the era of boarding and burnout: A postpandemic blueprint.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented challenges to healthcare quality in the emergency department, including directly impacting quality metrics and worsening barriers to the quality improvement process such as burnout, staff turnover, and boarding. We aimed to develop a blueprint for postpandemic quality improvement to address these specific barriers, focused on prioritizing frontline staff engagement from idea generation to implementation and assessment. Drawing from teamwork literature, we constructed a process that emphasized egalitarian conversations, psychological safety, and creating an environment where staff could feel heard at every step of the process. We applied this blueprint to improving rates of patients who leave without being seen and achieved a four percentage point reduction (9% vs. 5%, p < 0.001), with high rates of staff satisfaction with the process. We conclude that while postpandemic quality improvement presents significant challenges, we can rise to meet those challenges by adapting existing quality improvement processes to increase frontline staff engagement.

The Utility of Dot Phrases and SmartPhrases in Improving Physician Documentation of Interpreter Use.

Background: Patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) experience significant healthcare disparities. Clinicians are responsible for using and documenting their use of certified interpreters for patient encounters when appropriate. However, the data on interpreter use documentation in the emergency department (ED) is limited and variable. We sought to assess the effects of dot phrase and SmartPhrase implementation in an adult ED on the rates of documentation of interpreter use. Methods: We conducted an anonymous survey asking emergency clinicians to self-report documentation of interpreter use. We also retrospectively reviewed documentation of interpreter- services use in ED charts at three time points: 1) pre-intervention baseline; 2) post-implementation of a clinician-driven dot phrase shortcut; and 3) post-implementation of a SmartPhrase. Results: Most emergency clinicians reported using an interpreter "almost always" or "often." Our manual audit revealed that at baseline, interpreter use was documented in 35% of the initial clinician note, 4% of reassessments, and 0% of procedure notes; 52% of discharge instructions were written in the patients' preferred languages. After implementation of the dot phrase and SmartPhrase, respectively, rates of interpreter-use documentation improved to 43% and 97% of initial clinician notes, 9% and 6% of reassessments, and 5% and 35% of procedure notes, with 62% and 64% of discharge instructions written in the patients' preferred languages. Conclusion: There was a discrepancy between reported rates of interpreter use and interpreter-use documentation rates. The latter increased with the implementation of a clinician-driven dot phrase and then a SmartPhrase built into the notes. Ensuring accurate documentation of interpreter use is an impactful step in language equity for LEP patients.

Designing and developing a digital equity dashboard for the emergency department.

Disparities in diagnosis, treatment, and health outcomes of racial minorities are well documented in the emergency department (ED). Although EDs may provide broad departmental feedback on clinical metrics, lack of up-to-date monitoring and data availability present significant challenges to identifying and addressing patterns of inequitable care. To address this issue, we developed an online "Equity Dashboard," incorporating data that is updated daily from our electronic medical record to highlight demographic, clinical, and operational variables, stratified by age, race, ethnicity, and language, and sexual orientation, gender identity. Through an iterative design thinking process, we created data visualizations for an interactive interface that tells a story about the ED patient's experience and enables any staff to explore up-to-date trends in patient care. To assess and improve usability of the dashboard, we conducted a survey of end-users using custom questions, as well as the System Usability Scale and Net Promoter Score, both of which are validated health technology use instruments. The Equity Dashboard is of particular use for quality improvement initiatives, as it reflects common departmental challenges including delays in clinician events, inpatient boarding, and throughput metrics. This digital tool further helps demonstrate how these operational factors differentially affect our diverse patient population. The dashboard ultimately enables the ED team to measure current performance, to identify our vulnerabilities, and to design targeted interventions to address disparities in clinical care.

Designing clinical guidelines that improve access and satisfaction in the emergency department.

Clinical guidelines are evidence-based clinician decision-support tools that improve health outcomes, reduce patient harm, and decrease healthcare costs, but are often underused in emergency departments (EDs). This article describes a replicable, evidence-based design-thinking approach to developing best practices for guideline design that improves clinical satisfaction and usage. We used a 5-step process to enhance guideline usability in our ED. First, we conducted end-user interviews to identify barriers to guideline usage. Second, we reviewed the literature to identify key principles in guideline design. Third, we applied our findings to create a standardized guideline format, incorporating rapid cycle learning and iterative improvements. Fourth, we ensured the clinical validity of our updated guidelines by using a rigorous process for peer review. Lastly, we evaluated the impact of our guideline conversion process by tracking clinical guidelines access per day from October 2020 to January 2022. Our end-user interviews and review of the design literature revealed several barriers to guideline use, including lack of readability, design inconsistencies, and guideline complexity. Although our previous clinical guideline system averaged 0.13 users per day, >43 users per day accessed the clinical guidelines on our new digital platform in January 2022, representing an increase in access and use exceeding 33,000%. Our replicable process using open-access resources increased clinician access to and satisfaction with clinical guidelines in our ED. Design-thinking and use of low-cost technology can significantly improve clinical guideline visibility and has the potential to increase guideline use.

Disaster mobile health technology: lessons from Haiti.

INTRODUCTION: Mobile health (mHealth) technology can play a critical role in improving disaster victim tracking, triage, patient care, facility management, and theater-wide decision-making. PROBLEM: To date, no disaster mHealth application provides responders with adequate capabilities to function in an austere environment. METHODS: The Operational Medicine Institute (OMI) conducted a qualitative trial of a modified version of the off-the-shelf application iChart at the Fond Parisien Disaster Rescue Camp during the large-scale response to the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti. RESULTS: The iChart mHealth system created a patient log of 617 unique entries used by on-the-ground medical providers and field hospital administrators to facilitate provider triage, improve provider handoffs, and track vulnerable populations such as unaccompanied minors, pregnant women, traumatic orthopedic injuries and specified infectious diseases. CONCLUSION: The trial demonstrated that even a non-disaster specific application with significant programmatic limitations was an improvement over existing patient tracking and facility management systems. A unified electronic medical record and patient tracking system would add significant value to first responder capabilities in the disaster response setting.

Team and leadership factors and their relationship to burnout in emergency medicine during COVID-19: A 3-wave cross-sectional study.

Objective: We examined the relationship of team and leadership attributes with clinician feelings of burnout over time during the corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: We surveyed emergency medicine personnel at 2 California hospitals at 3 time points: July 2020, December 2020, and November 2021. We assessed 3 team and leadership attributes using previously validated psychological scales (joint problem-solving, process clarity, and leader inclusiveness) and burnout using a validated scale. Using logistic regression models we determined the associations between team and leadership attributes and burnout, controlling for covariates. Results: We obtained responses from 328, 356, and 260 respondents in waves 1, 2, and 3, respectively (mean response rate = 49.52%). The median response for feelings of burnout increased over time (2.0, interquartile range [IQR] = 2.0-3.0 in wave 1 to 3.0, IQR = 2.0-3.0 in wave 3). At all time points, greater process clarity was associated with lower odds of feeling burnout (odds ratio [OR] [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.36 [0.19, 0.66] in wave 1 to 0.24 [0.10, 0.61] in wave 3). In waves 2 and 3, greater joint problem-solving was associated with lower odds of feeling burnout (OR [95% CI] = 0.61 [0.42, 0.89], 0.54 [0.33, 0.88]). Leader inclusiveness was also associated with lower odds of feeling burnout (OR [95% CI] = 0.45 [0.27, 0.74] in wave 1 to 0.41 [0.24, 0.69] in wave 3). Conclusions: Process clarity, joint problem-solving, and leader inclusiveness are associated with less clinician burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, pointing to potential benefits of focusing on team and leadership factors during crisis. Leader inclusiveness may wane over time, requiring effort to sustain.

Predicting Emergency Department "Bouncebacks": A Retrospective Cohort Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: The short-term return visit rate among patients discharged from emergency departments (ED) is a quality metric and target for interventions. The ability to accurately identify which patients are more likely to revisit the ED could allow EDs and health systems to develop more focused interventions, but efforts to reduce revisits have not yet found success. Whether patients with a high number of ED visits are at increased risk of a return visit remains underexplored. METHODS: This was a population-based, retrospective, cohort study using administrative data from a large physician partnership. We included patients discharged from EDs from 80 hospitals in seven states from July 2014 - June 2016. We performed multivariable logistic regression of short-term return visits on patient, visit, hospital, and community characteristics. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who had a return visit within 14 days of an index ED visit. RESULTS: Among 6,699,717 index visits, the overall risk of 14-day revisit was 12.6%. Frequent visitors accounted for 18.7% of all visits and 40.2% of all 14-day revisits. Frequent visitor status was associated with the highest odds of a revisit (odds ratio [OR] 3.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.041 - 3.073). Other predictors of revisits were cellulitis (OR 2.131; 95% CI, 2.106 - 2.156), alcohol-related disorders (OR 1.579; 95%CI, 1.548 - 1.610), congestive heart failure (OR 1.175; 95% CI, 1.126 - 1.226), and public insurance (Medicaid OR 1.514; 95% CI, 1.501 - 1.528; Medicare OR 1.601; 95% CI, 1.583 - 1.620). CONCLUSION: Previous ED use - even a single previous visit - was a stronger predictor of a return visit than any other patient, hospital, or community characteristic. Clinicians should consider previous ED use when considering treatment decisions and risk of return visit, as should stakeholders targeting patients at risk of a return visit.

Deep Needle Procedures: Improving Safety With Ultrasound Visualization.

Promoting patient safety and increasing health care quality have dominated the health care landscape during the last 15 years. Health care regulators and payers are now tying patient safety outcomes and best practices to hospital reimbursement. Many health care leaders are searching for new technologies that not only make health care for patients safer but also reduce overall health care costs. New advances in ultrasonography have made this technology available to health care providers at the patient's bedside. Point-of-care ultrasound assistance now aids providers with real-time diagnosis and with visualization for procedural guidance. This is especially true for common deep needle procedures such as central venous catheter insertion, thoracentesis, and paracentesis.There is now mounting evidence that clinician-performed point-of-care ultrasound improves patient safety, enhances health care quality, and reduces health care cost for deep needle procedures. Furthermore, the miniaturization, ease of use, and the evolving affordability of ultrasound have now made this technology widely available. The adoption of point-of-care ultrasonography has reached a tipping point and should be seriously considered the safety standard for all hospital-based deep needle procedures.

Protein-translocating outer membrane porins of Gram-negative bacteria.

Five families of outer membrane porins that function in protein secretion in Gram-negative bacteria are currently recognized. In this report, these five porin families are analyzed from structural and phylogenetic standpoints. They are the fimbrial usher protein (FUP), outer membrane factor (OMF), autotransporter (AT), two-partner secretion (TPS) and outer membrane secretin (Secretin) families. All members of these families in the current databases were identified, and all full-length homologues were multiply aligned for structural and phylogenetic analyses. The organismal distribution of homologues in each family proved to be unique with some families being restricted to proteobacteria and others being widespread in other bacterial kingdoms as well as eukaryotes. The compositions of and size differences between subfamilies provide evidence for specific orthologous relationships, which agree with available functional information and intra-subfamily phylogeny. The results reveal that horizontal transfer of genes encoding these proteins between phylogenetically distant organisms has been exceptionally rare although transfer within select bacterial kingdoms may have occurred. The resultant in silico analyses are correlated with available experimental evidence to formulate models relevant to the structures and evolutionary origins of these proteins.

Type II protein secretion and its relationship to bacterial type IV pili and archaeal flagella.

Homologues of the protein constituents of the Klebsiella pneumoniae (Klebsiella oxytoca) type II secreton (T2S), the Pseudomonas aeruginosa type IV pilus/fimbrium biogenesis machinery (T4P) and the Methanococcus voltae flagellum biogenesis machinery (Fla) have been identified. Known constituents of these systems include (1). a major prepilin (preflagellin), (2). several minor prepilins (preflagellins), (3). a prepilin (preflagellin) peptidase/methylase, (4). an ATPase, (5). a multispanning transmembrane (TM) protein, (6). an outer-membrane secretin (lacking in Fla) and (7). several functionally uncharacterized envelope proteins. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses led to the conclusion that, although many of the protein constituents are probably homologous, extensive sequence divergence during evolution clouds this homology so that a common ancestry can be established for all three types of systems for only two constituents, the ATPase and the TM protein. Sequence divergence of the individual T2S constituents has occurred at characteristic rates, apparently without shuffling of constituents between systems. The same is probably also true for the T4P and Fla systems. The family of ATPases is much larger than the family of TM proteins, and many ATPase homologues function in capacities unrelated to those considered here. Many phylogenetic clusters of the ATPases probably exhibit uniform function. Some of these have a corresponding TM protein homologue although others probably function without one. It is further shown that proteins that compose the different phylogenetic clusters in both the ATPase and the TM protein families exhibit unique structural characteristics that are of probable functional significance. The TM proteins are shown to have arisen by at least two dissimilar intragenic duplication events, one in the bacterial kingdom and one in the archaeal kingdom. The archaeal TM proteins are twice as large as the bacterial TM proteins, suggesting an oligomeric structure for the latter.