This webinar will cover the Department of Health and the Division of Consumer Affairs regulations governing the Health Care Professional Responsibility and Reporting Enhancement Act (HCPRREA). The HCPRREA requires all licensed New Jersey health care entities to report licensed or certified health care professionals whose conduct is impaired and/or who exhibit incompetence or professional misconduct to notify the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Health Care Professional Information Clearing House Coordinator. The Act covers licensed and certified professionals who are employed by, under contract to render professional services to, or who have clinical privileges granted by a health care entity, or who provides such services pursuant to an agreement with a health care services firm or staffing registry.

A health care professional also has an obligation to file a report with the Health Care Professional Information Clearing House Coordinator if that health care professional has information which reasonably indicates that another health care professional has demonstrated an impairment, gross incompetence or unprofessional conduct which would present an imminent danger to an individual patient or to the public health, safety or welfare of the patient.

Join NJHA for a full day conference devoted to improving antimicrobial use across healthcare settings and sharing best practices with peers. The New Jersey Hospital Association’s Institute for Quality and Patient Safety is committed to working with its members to improve hospital antimicrobial stewardship programs and associated patient outcomes.

Improving the use of antimicrobials in healthcare to protect patients and reduce the threat of antimicrobial assistance is a national priority. Antimicrobial stewardship refers to a set of commitments and actions designed to “optimize the treatment of infections while reducing the adverse events associated with antimicrobial use.”

The mission of the NJHA Antimicrobial Stewardship Learning Action Collaborative is to promote the use of the appropriate agent, dose, duration and route of administration of antimicrobial agents both in the acute care setting and in the post-acute care setting in order to improve quality of patient care and patient safety while reducing excessive cost.

Program Objectives:

• To afford participants an overview of the most current issue of Coding Clinic


• To offer a platform to ensure that coders are aware of the most up to date advice


• an opportunity for discussion and questions related to the quarterly update

Drug Interactions Affecting Opioid Response

As the total number of opioid-related overdose deaths continues to increase, the topic of opioid use is one of the top health care issues in the country. Early identification of problematic opioid use and engagement in efforts to improve opioid prescribing are critical in preventing morbidity and mortality. Concerns with prescribing trends include increases in dosages of opioids prescribed and prescribing opioids for patients that may not optimally respond. There are myriad factors that influence dosages of opioids and patient opioid response. Among these factors, prescribers and other health care professionals should be able to appreciate the contribution of drug interactions to interindividual variations in opioid response.

The purpose of this webinar is to advance the national dialogue around the opioid epidemic with a solutions-oriented agenda that identifies opportunities for improving opioid prescribing by mitigating drug interactions influencing opioid response.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this webinar, participants should be able to:

1. Recognize various mechanisms of opioid-related drug interactions


2. Discuss how competitive inhibition and genetic variants can influence opioid disposition and response


3. Describe strategies for mitigating drug interactions influencing opioid response


4. Apply mitigating strategies to patient case scenarios to improve opioid prescribing

For more information, please contact Jo Ann Morgano at jmorgano@njha.com or 609.936.2199.

Surgical Site Infections are a major contributor to patient injury, mortality and healthcare costs. There are about 30 million surgeries performed in the U.S. each year, and despite advances in surgical and anesthesia techniques and improvements in perioperative care, variations in outcomes continue to occur. SSIs number about 500,000 a year and account for approximately twenty-five percent of the estimated two million HAIs in the United States. Patients with SSIs are five times more likely to be admitted to the ICU, have mortality rates twice that of the average hospitalized patient, and have lengths of stay days longer on average – all of which have significant impact on healthcare costs. Some of these infections are now considered to be hospital-acquired, and the increased costs of hospitalization may not be paid by various payers.

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols have resulted in shorter lengths of hospital stay by 30 percent to 50 percent reductions in surgical complications, readmissions and related costs. Key elements include engaging patients and families, using state-of-the-art analgesia, early mobility and restoration of functional status, avoidance of prolonged periods of fasting and evidence-based best practices for SSI, VTE, and CAUTI prevention.

This full-day conference will explore new, innovative strategies to improve surgical care from best practice innovators in New Jersey and around the country.

The mission of the New Jersey Sepsis Learning-Action collaborative and this face-to-face program is to spread evidence-based sepsis interventions throughout the acute and post-acute care settings. In this third year of the collaborative, hospitals face challenges related to managing sepsis in vulnerable patient populations, preventing readmissions related to sepsis and engaging patients and their families in sepsis quality improvement efforts aimed at early recognition and rapid treatment of sepsis.

Objective:

• Discuss the current state of sepsis quality improvement activities in New Jersey and nationally

• Understand how to implement a pediatric sepsis screening and treatment program

• Discuss relevant strategies and resources to engage patients and families in sepsis care and improvement

TeamSTEPPS™ is an evidence-based teamwork system aimed at optimizing patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among healthcare professionals. Through the use of a comprehensive set of ready-to use materials and a training curriculum, the implementation of TeamSTEPPS™ in any organization facilitates successful integration of teamwork principles into any healthcare environment.

OBJECTIVES:

1. State the role of teamwork and communication skills in creating a culture of safety

2. List essential skills needed to function as an effective team member

3. Identify key tools to enhance situation monitoring mutual support and coaching for team members

4. Identify resources that can be used to create a training program for front-line staff

5. Recognize implementation and sustainment techniques

6. Discuss the different roles of the coach

7. Create an action plan to implement the TeamSTEPPS™ model in participant organization.

This program is offered to board of trustee members to fulfill their state-mandated education requirements. The session provides a comprehensive understanding of the role and responsibilities of a trustee and is a primer for understanding the financial statements for healthcare institutions.

Designed to introduce members of a hospital governing body to the principles of hospital governance, this program will provide an understanding of the roles and responsibilities of serving as a hospital trustee. This seminar is focused on the ethical and fiduciary responsibilities of a trustee, the governing body’s role in promoting healthcare quality, hospital organization and governance, hospital financial management and legal/regulatory compliance issues. This seven-hour program is intended to fulfill the state-mandated hospital governing body training, but is useful for anyone serving on a healthcare board of trustee.

“Critical care is an all-encompassing specialty with almost limitless boundaries. Critical care involves the use of life-sustaining, high-technology medicine catering to a patient population that extends to both extremes of age. In adult ICUs, the average age is increasing and is now commonly well over 60 years. Although ICUs admitting patients for preplanned brief stays after planned major surgery have very low mortality rates, the rates in adults ICUs among patients admitted “for cause” are generally around 15 percent in developed countries. In recent study of Medicare beneficiaries in the United States, 29.2 percent of patients had been treated in an ICU during the last month of their lives. Currently, most deaths in ICUs are expected, and ICU clinicians regularly face the decision of when to change the focus of treatment from attempting to cure to providing palliative care.” (New England Journal of Medicine, 2013)

This full-day conference will provide education on “hot button” critical care issues and creative strategies to tackle new and emerging critical care challenges.

Adverse Drug Events result in more than 770,000 injuries and deaths per year at an average cost of $5.6 million per hospital, depending on size. This estimate does not include ADEs causing admissions, malpractice and litigation costs, or the cost of injuries to patients. Many ADE injuries and resulting hospital costs can be reduced if hospitals make changes to their systems for preventing and detecting ADEs.

Topics for the conference will include:

1. Outlining Institute for Safe Medication Practices and Joint Commission updates for ADEs.

2. Identifying best practice solutions for adverse drug events

3. Analyzing the Prescription Monitoring Program (PMP) and Board of Medical Examiners (BME) Regulations

Due to an overwhelming response for this program, HRET has added a second date (December 1, 2017). Those interested in attending, should check ONE DATE ONLY on the registration page.

Most healthcare providers adjust well to the multitude of demands encountered during an unexpected or traumatic clinical event. Providers often have strong emotional defenses that carry them through and let them “get the job done.” Yet sometimes the emotional aftershock (or stress reaction) can be difficult. Signs and symptoms of this emotional aftershock may last a few days, a few weeks, a few months or longer.

Second victims are “healthcare providers who are involved in an unanticipated adverse patient event, medical error and/or a patient-related injury and become victimized in the sense that the provider is traumatized by the event."