RESUMEN
To ensure access to health communication, attention must be paid to the needs of all audiences. As scientists working in a highly technical organization, we often focus more on methods and findings without giving the same thought to how we convey messages and the communication needs of specific audiences. In this essay, we outline how we learned a great deal about communications during the planning and execution of a Public Health Grand Rounds (PHGR). This PHGR gave us a chance to pause and consider what was most important: our public health messages, making them relevant and understandable, ensuring they were informative and actionable, and maximizing accessible outlets and methods for disseminating our messages.
RESUMEN
It is essential that people with disabilities have equitable access to COVID-19 communication resources to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. The Accessible Materials and Culturally Relevant Messages for Individuals with Disabilities project aimed to deliver essential COVID-19 information in braille, American Sign Language (ASL), simplified text, and other alternative formats, along with providing additional tools and trainings that people with disabilities and organizations that serve them can use to apply the COVID-19 guidance. Lessons learned from this project can be implemented in future public health emergencies as well as in general public health messaging for people with disabilities. This project, led by Georgia Tech's Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation (CIDI) and with technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was supported by the CDC Foundation, using funds from the CDC Foundation's COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund.
RESUMEN
Trauma patients are at increased risk for developing ventilator-associated pneumonia. Sixty adult trauma intensive care unit patients were audited 3 months prepractice change, and 30 were audited postpractice change. Quality improvement interventions included staff education of a redesigned electronic medical record ventilator bundle and chlorhexidine gluconate administration timing practice change. Postpractice change audits revealed 2-hour chlorhexidine gluconate documentation increased from 38.3% to 73.3% and incidence of pneumonia in intubated patients decreased by 62%. Early initiation of chlorhexidine gluconate mouth care utilizing electronic medical record technology may help reduce pneumonia in intubated patients, hospital length of stay, overall health costs, and improve documentation.
