The case for e-prescribing.

Electronic prescribing systems provide a faster way to transmit information to the pharmacy, reduce errors caused by illegible handwriting and lower costs through better utilization. This foldout outlines the promise and pitfalls of e-prescribing.

2006 NOVA Awards.

From projects helping the uninsured in Wisconsin to medical care on wheels in rural Kentucky, these award-winning hospitals share the common goal of improving health care in their own back yards.

Save lives now. 30 things you can do to eliminate infections.

More than 2 million Americans a year acquire infections during a hospital stay, often with deadly results. These infections are costly to treat and difficult to rationalize to patients and the public. And most of them can be prevented. Here are 30 simple and low-cost things that you can do right now to eliminate infections in your hospital. Well outline additional steps in upcoming issues of H&HN as part of the 2006 Save Lives Now series.

Poised for growth. Point-of-care testing.

The United States is the world's biggest market for diagnostic testing, and one of the most active segments within that is point-of-care testing, or POCT. As test devices become more compact and easier to use, as well as more accurate, tests can be more frequently performed at the point of care, whether that is the emergency department, intensive care unit or a patient's home. Among the most common tests are those for blood glucose, blood gases, cardiac markers and sepsis, as well as pregnancy and ovulation. The biggest advantage of POCT is speed. Although home-based point-of-care testing is common, 70 percent of POCT takes place in hospitals, doctor's offices and other provider locations, and experts predict this segment will grow an average of 15.5 percent each year, significantly outpacing home-based testing. This gatefold gives an overview of POCT, discusses the challenges, benefits for hospitals, and provides a glimpse of what experts believe point-of-care testing will look like in the future.

Clinical communication and patient safety.

JCAHO says communication problems were the leading root cause of sentinel events in 2005. The reasons are manifold: a harried environment, a hierarchical staffing system and illegible handwriting, to name a few. This gatefold examines the scope of the problem, including data and risk factors, and offers some strategies for improvement.

Hospitalists: in-house docs can ease some vexing problems, but first you've got to win over the skeptics.

In-house physicians can alleviate many headaches, such as keeping the ED staffed and making sure a doctor is on hand when a patient's regular physician is unavailable. Success depends on resolving turf wars between hospitalists and other docs, dearly defining duties and workload, and designing pay to reward both volume and quality.