Nursing Informatics is a specialized area of nursing and branch of this profession that is seeing much growth. This blog post’s purpose is to be an elementary introduction to this burgeoning specialty.

At Health Care Compliance Association’s (HCCA) 4th Annual Enforcement Conference, attendees were treated to a variety of hot topics from experts in the field. Topics included new developments with the False Claims Act, Cybersecurity and Privacy Risks, the changing regulatory landscape relating to opioids, and the anatomy of a corporate integrity agreement.

Hospitals continue to feel the financial pain stemming from the ongoing nursing shortage. Compounding the problem of a nursing shortage is a high turnover rate among new nurses.

Artificial intelligence clearly has the potential to drive meaningful change at numerous points along the healthcare continuum. The most effective deployments of AI in the healthcare space will augment human capabilities, not replace them.

Healthcare HR Professionals Week has arrived, and that means it’s a great time to look at how HR supports every aspect of the HR workplace — and discover ways to help these hardworking professionals deliver comprehensive, successful solutions for workplace training and development.

How well we react to the changes in our worklife is an indicator of how effective we will be in our profession. Here are 13 smart things that every medical staff professional should know.

A conflict of interest in healthcare can range from the most simple and obvious to extraordinarily complex, as a few examples can demonstrate. Well defined policies and procedures can provide a template for improved understanding and compliance.

A medical or professional mistake may trigger a Focused Professional Practice Evaluation (FPPE) for cause. These recommendations can help organizations create an FPPE action plan that embodies a culture of learning and opportunity for improvement.

How an organization responds to a serious conflict of interest is very important and can have a great deal of influence on its reputation after a violation becomes public knowledge. Here’s how Memorial Sloan Kettering is responding to its lapses.

Despite the vigor of the Ambulatory Surgery Center market, this care sector is facing some significant challenges in the years ahead, like much of the rest of healthcare. Some of the challenges are discussed briefly here.

Avoiding and preventing conflict of interest (COI) is an important focus of healthcare compliance. When the medical director at a prominent research hospital failed to disclose his strong industry ties, it created a major headache for everyone involved.

Effective compliance training that incorporates the best practices contained in this blog post and the more extensive article on which it is based can help employees understand their obligations and make every staff member an extension of the compliance team.

Like for any emergent disease, as healthcare professionals, we do what we know to do about opioid abuse disorder. Prevent the disease from ever happening and use evidence-based practices to treat those affected. Given the enormity of the problem, we conclude it will take a long time and great effort to effect change.

Learn how the effects of poor communication in healthcare between nurses, healthcare professionals, and providers occur for a variety of reasons from HealthStream.

There is an undeniable link between health literacy and health outcomes, but few Americans have the proficiency needed to manage their health. Here are some suggestions for improving it.

Frailty, in combination with other risk factors, increases an older patient’s vulnerability to a difficult transition of care and re-hospitalization. Identifying it and making allowances for its effects can help improve outcomes for this vulnerable population.

The burden of government healthcare regulation has resulted in providers and systems saying they are spending too much time ensuring compliance, taking them away from their primary mission of providing care. What is the extent of the problem?

A “win-win” scenario is created when healthcare organizations invest in team member improvement and continuing education/ competency as part of supporting lifelong learning. Healthcare leaders are critical in facilitating Lifelong Learning for their employees.

To create a culture of compliance, employees have to understand why the compliance training assigned to them is necessary and important. The goal is to create a culture with a sense of shared responsibility where employees feel, “We're all in the same boat regardless of our position.”

Task To Touch, a new HealthStream courseware partner, is focused on helping clinicians understand how to adopt specific skills that enhance the patient experience in the healthcare setting.