Red Cross First Aid Puts a Wealth of Emergency Information in Your Pocket

From Lifehacker:

Android and iOS: Whether you’re preparing for an emergency or in the midst of one, the Red Cross First Aid app overs plenty of knowledge. It’ll help you get ready for a potential earthquake, handle a broken bone, survive a fire, and tons more.

The app features simple instructions for several types of incidents, checklists to help you prepare, and videos to show you what the included text can’t. If the basic information isn’t enough, most of the categories have a set of common questions and answers so you can find out more about a particular topic. While the app is never going to be a replacement for first-aid training, it’s a good way to brush up on your emergency skills should an incident arise. It’s one of those apps you’ll hopefully never have to use, but may be glad to have if you encounter a worst-case scenario.

Iowa to pay $3.75M in boy’s injuries

From the AP:

IOWA CITY — Iowa has agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed negligence by University of Iowa hospital employees during a birth that caused a baby to have brain injuries that left him severely retarded, newly released records show.

NQF Board of Directors Upholds Endorsement of All-Cause Readmissions Measure

From the National Quality Forum (press release):

Washington, DC – The NQF Board of Directors voted on June 25 to uphold its initial decision to endorse a new all-cause hospital-wide readmissions measure developed by Yale University and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The Board’s decision to endorse this measure was challenged through NQF’s official appeal process by seven hospital systems.

During its deliberations, the Board reaffirmed the important differences between the measure endorsement process, which thoroughly vets the properties of a measure, and that of the Measure Applications Partnership (MAP) whose role is to advise both public and private sectors on best use of measures in payment and public reporting programs. The Board explicitly requested MAP to convene a special session over the summer to consider the complex issue of how to use this new measure as part of a broader set of care coordination measures applicable to all types of providers.

CMS agreed to defer use of this particular readmission measure in the new CMS Readmissions Reduction Program until MAP had deliberated and recommended back to CMS its advice on the measure’s optimal use. CMS also reaffirmed its previous commitment to provide findings of the dry run back to NQF’s expert steering committee that reviewed and voted to endorse this measure within one year.

The Board also weighed concerns raised about how to approach the issue of achieving consensus, as part of NQF’s Consensus Development Process, when there appears to be a split in NQF’s membership. Membership voting is one step of the consensus development process. The Board proposed seating a task force to explore any potential modifications to NQF’s consensus process, and the task force was approved. Dr. Frank Opelka, MD, FACS, vice chancellor for clinical affairs at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, has agreed to chair this new initiative.

“NQF greatly appreciates and takes to heart the comments and concerns raised throughout this project, both about the potential use of this new measure and how consensus was achieved,” said Janet Corrigan, CEO and President of NQF. “We put great faith in our members and multistakeholder, expert committees to help us make decisions that are in the best interests of achieving a higher-value, safer healthcare system. This current project shows that reaching consensus is difficult, but any process that balances multistakeholder interests yields important results.”

Readmissions Project page:
http://www.qualityforum.org/Projects/Readmissions_Endorsement_Maintenance.aspx

NQF Statement:
http://www.qualityforum.org/Projects/NQF_All-Cause_Readmissions_Project.aspx

How to Place and Secure an IO in a Peds Patient

From EMCrit:

Rebecca Engelman, a critical care paramedic and soon to be PA, sent the great tips below on how to secure an IO in a peds patient. She should know because on the equipment securing hierarchy, methods that work in the filed are tops. It goes: things that work in the OR to things that work in the ICU to things that work in the ED and ends with things that work in the eight floor walk-up apartment building or a transport chopper.