5 Stories You Need: How Design Thinking Impacts Communication with Patients, 2016 AHRQ Snapshots Report on Quality

We know you’re busy, but we don’t want you to miss important healthcare quality and patient safety news. Here are a few stories you may want to take a look at before calling it a week. (Subscribe today if you’d like these news alerts delivered to you.)

1. FDA Clears Drug With Ingestible Digital Tracker
   The Food and Drug Administration has approved a pill embedded with a digital sensor designed to digitally record if and when a patient takes prescribed medication. The first of its kind, the drug is approved for treatment of schizoprenia and other mental health disorders. Medscape
2. Experts Discuss Role of Technology in Patient Experience
   Here’s a recap of a patient experience breakout session conducted at the U.S. News Healthcare of Tomorrow conference held in Washington, D.C. Consider the role that  these four experts see technology playing as healthcare evolves.  U.S. News & World Report 
3. How Design Thinking Is Improving Patient-Caregiver Conversations
   While heath IT is often at the forefront of discussions revolving around healthcare innovation, simpler low-tech initiatives are often equally as transformative. Learn how one organization turned its keen focus on patient feelings and behaviors into constructive conversations that translated into increased patient satisfaction.  Harvard Business Review   
4. Robots May Be Cleaning Your Hospital Room Soon
   Vanderbilt University Medical Center will begin using robots to defend against healthcare-associated infections including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Read more about how robotic disinfection, which Vanderbilt plans to deploy first in its burn center, works. Health Day 
5. AHRQ’s 2016 Snapshots Site Offers Analyses of Healthcare Quality Variations in Every State
   The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has developed a new online tool that provides detailed state-by-state analyses of the variations in healthcare quality revealed earlier this year in the agency’s 2016 National Quality and Disparities Report.  Data used in producing that report, including more than 250 quality measures  as well as information about access to healthcare services, inspired the compilation of the 2016 State Snapshots. ADN News Blog