Aligning mission to digital health strategy in academic medical centers.

The strategies of academic medical centers arise from core values and missions that aim to provide unmatched clinical care, patient experience, research, education, and training. These missions drive nearly all activities. They should also drive digital health activities - and particularly now given the rapid adoption of digital health, marking one of the great transformations of healthcare; increasing pressures on health systems to provide more cost-effective care; the pandemic-accelerated funding and rise of well-funded new entrants and technology giants that provide more convenient forms of care; and a more favorable regulatory and reimbursement landscape to incorporate digital health approaches.

Hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination of N95 respirators for reuse.

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to global shortages of N95 respirators. Reprocessing of used N95 respirators may provide a higher filtration crisis alternative, but whether effective sterilization can be achieved for a virus without impairing respirator function remains unknown. We evaluated the viricidal efficacy of Bioquell vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) on contaminated N95 respirators and tested the particulate particle penetration and inhalation and exhalation resistance of respirators after multiple cycles of VHP.

Pursuit of Value Drives Strategy to Improve Operations and Outcomes.

The future of American healthcare remains cloudy, with the shifting contours of regulatory and fiscal reform still being shaped. Providers are beset by many challenges that vary but often include state and federal healthcare funding decisions that are antithetical to the interests of patients and aging populations. Regional public health crises and rapidly evolving relationships with third-party payers complicate matters even further.

Association of inpatient and outpatient glucose management with inpatient mortality among patients with and without diabetes at a major academic medical center.

Background: Hospitalized patients with diabetes have experienced a disproportionate reduction in mortality over the past decade.

Objective: To examine whether this differential decrease affected all patients with diabetes, and to identify explanatory factors.

Design: Serial, cross-sectional observational study.

The safe patient flow initiative: a collaborative quality improvement journey at Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Background: Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) began a successful journey to achieve safe patient flow in fiscal year (FY) 2008 (October 1, 2007-September 30, 2008). The 966-bed (now 1,541-bed) academic medical center faced several challenges, including overcrowding in the Adult Emergency Department (ED); delays in the postanesthesia care unit, which affected the flow of patients through the operating rooms; pinched capacity during the central part of the day; and a lack of interdependent institutionwide coordination of patients.

Methods: The Safe Patient Flow Steering Committee oversaw improvement efforts, most of which were implemented in FY 2009 (October 2008-September 2009), through a cascade of operational meetings.