ECRI Now

The idea that diagnosis is a single event that happens at a single point of time by a single healthcare provider is a common misconception—one that doesn’t account for the complex, multifaceted system of patients, family members, providers, and technologies. In this episode, Victor Lane Rose, Executive Director, of Aging and Ambulatory Care at ECRI, discusses diagnosis and describes why patient, family, and caregiver participation is especially important in diagnosing Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

When service members transition from the military to civilian life, they’re no longer part of the military health system, but they need healthcare that takes their veteran status into account. In this episode, Shannon Davila, Executive Director of Total Systems Safety at ECRI, describes a new program from ECRI specifically developed to promote veterans’ safety.Learn more at www.ecri.org/salute.

Clinical algorithms that include considerations of patients’ race have complex effects, sometimes making care disparities worse, and sometimes helping to reduce disparities. In this episode, ECRI’s Kelley Tipton, MPH, Associate Director of Evidence Contracts & Consulting, describes an ECRI-Penn Medicine Evidence-Based Practice Center (EPC) systematic review of the evidence related to racial considerations in clinical algorithms. For more details, read the full EPC report and a systematic review published March 12, 2024, in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Despite progress in syphilis treatment over the past century, a concerning increase in the rate of congenital syphilis in newborns has emerged in recent years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 10 times as many babies were born with congenital syphilis in 2022 than in 2012—the highest number of cases in one year since 1994 and a 31.7% increase in the number of cases recorded in 2021. In this episode, ECRI’s Laura Stone describes reasons for this increase and steps providers can take to combat it.

The market for single-use bronchoscopes has exploded, largely driven by the reduced risk of cross-contamination compared to reusable devices. ECRI Principal Project Engineer Mairead Smith explores some of the trade-offs, research weighing the environmental costs of single-use against reprocessing, and ECRI’s considerations (Device Evaluation members only) for when to select each type of device.

Traditional adult emergency departments (EDs) may be unprepared to care for children, leading to increased risks of missed and delayed diagnoses, errors in treatment, and more. Jennifer Comerford, a Patient Safety Analyst at ECRI, describes these risks and steps organizations can take to prepare for pediatric patients and families can take to protect their loved ones—including children experiencing emergencies in other settings.

In an era of widespread staffing shortages, rising workplace violence threatens physical and psychological harm that could drive even more providers away from healthcare. In this episode, Andrew Furman, ECRI’s Vice President of Clinical Evidence and Safety Solutions, describes the importance of leadership support for a systematic approach to understanding the prevalence of violence and implementing effective steps to reduce the risk to workers across all care settings.Physical and verbal violence against healthcare staff was featured on the Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2023, including additional recommendations rooted in a Total Systems Safety approach. Register to download the special report at https://www.ecri.org/top-10-patient-safety-concerns-2023-special-report.

Maternal harm and death in the United States is the worst among all wealthy nations, and racial and other disparities mean that some groups are even more severely impacted. ECRI’s Carlye Hendershot, senior patient safety analyst, describes efforts underway to reverse these trends, highlighting steps that policymakers and providers can take to protect patients who are or have recently been pregnant, especially in the postpartum period after they leave the hospital.