Health. Care. | An Educational Blog

Every successful organization, from a small grassroots group to a global corporation, has a way for ideas to percolate through the system and find their way to the top decision-makers. Human ingenuity can come from anywhere, including cost-saving ideas (the matchbox), ways to attract new demographics (Flamin' Hot Cheetos), retain current customers (Starbucks), and of course, launch completely new products (PlayStation). From our last post, we know that hospitals and healthcare systems allocate their budgets in advance, with limited protocols for integrating innovations. How can the individual with an idea get that innovation in front of the right people at the right time, and of course, in the right way? In today's post, we'll explore one method to get you there.

This post concludes our series on MRSA in support of MRSA Awareness Month.

Hospital finances are a complex process, involving all the parts of a service provider, a retail business, an investment venture, and a non-profit organization. Investment in medical innovations require buy-in from anyone (and everyone) from physicians and nurses all the way to the CFO and CEO. In today's post, we will introduce a series on the topic of how hospitals budget and spend money, and how an individual employee can use that information in order to bring an innovative idea to the right person at the right time. 

There are countless contributors to the world of medicine who share Hispanic/Latino backgrounds, but there are a few noteworthy individuals whose work has been instrumental in advancing the fields of epidemiology and infectious disease prevention and treatment. In today's post, we will look at one of those key figures and his vital scientific legacy, Dr. Carlos Juan Finlay.

As we move into the last week of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we will turn our attention to the unique healthcare challenges faced by Hispanic/Latino Americans. Hispanic/Latino Americans are a very large (and growing) minority group, making up almost 20% of the US population. Within that group are multi-generational Americans, long-term residents (78% have lived in the US more than a decade) and recent immigrants, English-only speakers, bilingual speakers, and Spanish-only speakers, citizens (81%) and non-citizens. No single healthcare statistic applies to the diverse group of individuals, so in today's post, we will look at the most critical healthcare issues and what steps are being taken to reach the most vulnerable individuals, specifically, the use of promotores de salud, or community health workers.

The weeks between mid-September and mid-October has been National Hispanic Heritage Month since the late 1980s. During this month, the nation takes time to recognize the important role played by American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central/South America. The 2023 theme is "Todos Somos, Somos Unos: We Are All, We Are One!" capturing the idea that in spite of our unique backgrounds, we are all intertwined and united by our shared humanity. In today's post, we'll share 5 resources you can use to explore or share the many contributions from Hispanic/Latino individuals in the fields of healthcare, infection prevention, and epidemiology.