Literature Review

5 tips to determine how tech can support your physicians American Medical Association (AMA); by Georgia Garvey; 2/25/25 ... Margaret Lozovatsky, MD, vice president of digital health innovations at the AMA, recently shared five important considerations—among them establishing a governance model and agreeing on shared priorities—in designing technology to support clinical practice. Dr. Lozovatsky’s presentation was part of a two-day AMA training event to help physicians eliminate unnecessary work and free up more time to focus on what matters most—patient care. ...

3 bold and disruptive strategies to retain top-performing leaders Forbes; by Dr. Cheryl Robinson; 2/19/25 ... The Global Leadership Forecast 2025 by DDI reveals a concerning trend: leaders are burning out at unprecedented rates. With 40% of leaders contemplating resignation due to burnout, top talent is either stepping down or disengaging, leaving organizations vulnerable to performance decline and talent gaps. The stakes are high. ...

Who cares for the caregivers? The push for laws to protect nurses’ mental health Medscape; by Jodi Helmer; 2/5/25 ... More than 67% of nurses reported feeling depressed or anxious, and two thirds said they were not receiving mental health support. Nurses cite lack of time and financial resources among the reasons for not seeking treatment, but fears about losing their jobs and the impact on their nursing licenses were also top issues. ... Registered nurses (RN) and advanced practice RN (APRNs) can be required to answer invasive questions about their mental health as part of their state licensure and advanced credentialing applications. The questions can be stigmatizing and could require nurses to submit letters from their healthcare providers addressing their mental health status. ... There is a movement to urge licensing and credentialing organizations to remove invasive and stigmatizing mental health questions from their applications. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing is working on national recommendations ...

Hospice workers in Tampa experience what it feels like to live with dementiaFox 13 Tampa Bay, FL; by Kailey Tracy; 2/19/25 Keosha Simmons says her father, who died in 2018, was a hard worker and an amazing man. ... "He did live with dementia. It was an early onset of dementia. He ended up with cancer, and it was a later stage when we found out about it, and that's when he came under the care of Empath Health Suncoast Hospice," Simmons said. Simmons is now the Director of Empath’s Community Engagement team. On Wednesday, Simmons and her team did a different kind of training. It was a hands-on simulation to experience what someone with dementia feels. [From this article's "The Brief" Summary.]

New Day Healthcare acquires Christian Senior Care Services  Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 2/20/25 New Day Healthcare has acquired the home-based care company Christian Senior Care Services in Houston for an undisclosed sum. The deal, New Day’s 13th to date, expands the company’s personal care services division into five additional counties in the Houston metro area. The operation will continue to operate under its current brand, and the entire staff will remain in place. ... The transaction adds personal care services to New Day’s hospice and home health operations in the Houston area, a key step in the provider’s efforts to build out a multi-faceted continuum of care. ... Similar to national demographic trends, a growing aging population is driving demand for hospice in Texas. Seniors 65 and older represent 13.8% of the Lone Star State’s overall population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Staffing shortages weighing on hospice executive’s minds in 2025 Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 2/19/25 Hospice leaders have lost sleep over workforce pressures plaguing the industry for several years running, a trend that is not anticipated to abate anytime soon. Staffing challenges were cited as the leading concern among 35% of 112 hospice professionals who participated in this year’s Outlook Survey by Hospice News and Homecare Homebase. This represented an 18% decline compared to the 2023 survey results. ...

ViVE 2025: Improving clinical workflows amid workforce shortages HealthTech; by Teta Alim; 2/18/25 As the U.S. braces for a dearth of physicians and nurses, healthcare organizations are transforming processes to attract and retain talent. By 2034, experts have projected, there will be a shortage of between 17,800 to 48,000 primary care physicians. For full-time registered nurses, 2030 projections are even steeper. Healthcare organizations are well aware of these forecasts and have been testing and deploying solutions to improve employee satisfaction and retention and attract new talent. At ViVE 2025 in Nashville, Tenn., industry leaders discussed how improvements supported by artificial intelligence (AI) are offering promising results for streamlining workflows. [Click on the title's link to read this discussion.]

Influenza vaccination cuts deaths by up to four times Medscape Medical News; by Olga Fernandez Castro; 2/17/25 Influenza vaccination significantly reduces flu-related morbidity and mortality across all age groups, according to a large-scale Spanish study analyzing data from more than 38 countries and 6.5 million patients. ... The analysis confirms that vaccination against the influenza A (H1N1) virus and the influenza B virus (IBV) effectively reduces infection rates and flu-related complications in children aged under 5 years, individuals aged 5-65 years, and older adults aged over 65 years. However, protection against influenza A (H3N2) virus appears lower in older adults, despite being effective in younger children. Editor's note: Click here for the Centers for Disease & Prevention Control (CDC) "Weekly Influenza Surveillance Preport," with a map for flu activity levels for each state and drilled down to counties. Click on the "CBSA" button to change from the state view to the counties' view and downloadable data. 

The case for a 4-day workweek for nurse managers Becker's Clinical Leadership; by Kelly Gooch: 2/18/25 Four-day workweeks lead to an improved work-life balance for nurse managers, nurse leaders at Philadelphia-based Fox Chase Cancer Center argue in a new paper shared with Becker's. "A 4-Day Workweek for Nurse Leaders: Unveiling the Lessons Learned" is based on a study conducted at the 100-bed specialty cancer center. The study aims to evaluate the influence of a four-day workweek on nurse leaders' perceptions of workload and job satisfaction. Results of the study were published Feb. 17, and included 24 care delivery units and 43 nursing directors, managers and assistant nurse managers.

57 health systems on Forbes' list of best large employers Becker's Hospital Review; by Kelly Gooch; 2/13/25 Forbes released its annual ranking of America's best large employers Feb. 12, and it included 57 hospitals and health systems. The publication partnered with market research firm Statista to compile lists of the top large and midsize employers in the U.S. after surveying more than 217,000 employees working at companies within the U.S. that employ more than 1,000 people. Companies with more than 5,000 employees were considered for the large employers ranking. Survey participants were asked whether they would recommend their employer to others and to rate it based on criteria such as pay, work environment, training programs and advancement opportunities. [The top 5 include the following. Click on the title's link for the full list and links to more info.]

Mandated time off for bereavement gaining ground Altoona, PA; by Sarah Boden; 2/10/25 When his father died from COVID-19 in 2020, James Gerraughty didn’t have to choose between working and grieving. That’s because his employer provides three days of paid bereavement for the death of a parent. This gave Gerraughty enough time to drive from the Altoona area to Buffalo, New York, to collect his dad’s remains. ... Not everyone is so lucky. Pennsylvania doesn’t have a universal bereavement leave policy. Employers offer it at their discretion, meaning many workers can experience the death of a loved one but not get time off. Other states have filled this gap in labor law, to varying degrees. California, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington all mandate some form of bereavement leave. ... It takes time to process a death. So not being able to take off work can threaten a person’s mental health and livelihood, said Nisha Bowman, a social worker in Pittsburgh for Monarch Hospice.[Click on the title's link to continue reading.] Editor's note: For national advocacy for bereavement care, examine Evermore.org.

‘Severe understaffing and sharp cuts’: 2,000 health care workers to picket Providence on Wednesday Euraka Times-Standard, Eureka, CA; by Robert Schaulis; 2/11/25 More than 2,000 health care workers will picket Providence hospitals and health care facilities throughout Northern California this Wednesday. The day of action will take place across six sites throughout the region — four hospitals and two hospices across Humboldt, Napa and Sonoma counties — including Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka. More than 2,000 health care workers represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers have elected to picket, citing “severe understaffing and sharp cuts to health services in communities that are dependent on Providence for their medical care.” ... Layoffs have also resulted in increased caseloads in areas like Sonoma County, where Providence has laid off hospice workers.

AdventHealth's AI chief aims to cut through the 'uncertainty' of AI in healthcare Becker's Hospital Review; by Naomi Diaz; 2/5/25 AdventHealth, based in Altamonte Springs, Fla., has appointed Rob Purinton as its first chief artificial intelligence officer, a newly created role aimed at reducing uncertainty around AI while guiding the health system's overall strategy for using the technology. "We think there's some uncertainty in the future with AI and healthcare, and so my job is to take some of that uncertainty out," Mr. Purinton told Becker's. "The future could be bright and productive and rosy and a really great experience for consumers and clinicians, or it could be the opposite of that. ..."