Category Archives: Best Practices and Methodologies

Best Practices and Methodologies

Viewing Patient Engagement through the Patient’s Eyes: A Must for Real Healthcare Innovation

Worldwide, patient engagement is becoming a “must do” for academics, industries and policy makers in the healthcare arena. The academic and managerial “buzz” on patient engagement is growing at a dizzying pace. In 2015, 665,300 new web indices were found on Google.com with the key words “patient engagement,” including 1,230 news pages and 6,200 dedicated […]

Best Practices and Methodologies

Inviting Your Patients to Read Their Visit Notes

A first step in engaging patients is making sure they understand what’s going on with their health and care plans. The simple intervention of opening visit notes to patients can have enormous impacts in creating active, engaged patients. Inviting patients to read their clinicians’ notes can help to improve communication between patients and providers. It […]



Melissa Anselmo Melissa Anselmo, MPH, is the National OpenNotes Program Director in the Division of General Medicine and Primary Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She studied at Bucknell University (BS) and the University of Otago (MPH) in New Zealand as a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholar. She has conducted quantitative and qualitative research on health systems in developing countries. She is interested in the implementation of low cost interventions that improve access to health services and promote patient engagement.

Melissa K. Anselmo, MPH has 1 post(s) at EngagingPatients.org

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Best Practices and Methodologies

Engaging Frequent ED Visitors Seeking Prescription Narcotics

Unintentional overdose deaths due to prescription narcotics have quadrupled since 1999 and now outnumber those involving heroin and cocaine.[i],[ii] As a result, such misuse of medications has been accurately described as a national epidemic by the CDC and consumes over $70 billion in health care costs. [iii],[iv] Controlling patients who frequent the emergency department (ED) […]

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Tom Scaletta, M.D. Dr. Tom Scaletta is board certified in both emergency medicine and clinical informatics. He is the medical director of patient experience and the emergency department chair at Edward-Elmhurst Healthcare (https://healthydriven.com), past president of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine and a national speaker on emergency department operations and patient satisfaction. Tom designed a computerized patient communication system praised by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Urgent Matters (George Washington University).

Tom Scaletta, M.D. has 6 post(s) at EngagingPatients.org


Best Practices and Methodologies

The Bedside Shift Report: Engaging Patients and Families as Partners

The bedside shift-to-shift nursing report isn’t new. It has been discussed as an effective patient engagement tool for at least 35 years. The Joint Commission identified communication failures during shift reports as a leading cause of sentinel events in the United States, and, in 2011, the National Patient Safety Foundation focused on the bedside report […]

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Jim Malkowiak and Katie McConnell Jim Malkowiak, RN, BSN, is a Unit Director at the Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC since 2011, and previously held the position of administrative clinician (2008-2011) at the same facility. In his current position, he has spearheaded a hospital initiative for bedside reporting. He has 15 years of extensive medical and nursing experience, including medical/surgical, telemetry, step down, surgical intensive care, medical intensive care, long term acute care and home health. Katie McConnell, RN, MS, is currently a Level 4 Clinician on an inpatient unit at the Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC. She has held the position of informatics nurse at the same facility (2011-2012). Prior to joining Magee Womens Hospital, she held positions as staff nurse at both the University Hospitals Health System (OH) and The Western Pennsylvania Hospital.

Jim Malkowiak and Katie McConnell has 1 post(s) at EngagingPatients.org


Best Practices and Methodologies

Charles Morris, Enhancing Life for Residents in Long Term Care from Day One

The decision to move to a skilled nursing or rehabilitation facility can be difficult for both resident and family. Assuring a smooth transition from home or hospital is essential to putting the individual, spouse and family at ease and creating a positive experience. That’s been our central focus for Charles Morris Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation […]

Best Practices and Methodologies

Bariatric Surgery and Weight Management Programs achieve “Trifecta” with PFCC

  This is the third in a series of guest blog posts, spotlighting how hospitals are engaging their patients to transform care delivery, using the Patient and Family Centered Care Methodology and Practice. The Minimally Invasive Bariatric and General Surgery team at Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC, performs over 1000 procedures annually. By adopting the six-step, […]

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Drs. Jeffrey Gusenoff and Vicki March Dr. Jeffrey Gusenoff is Co-Director of UPMC BodyChanger and the UPMC Life After Weight Loss Program. He is a Visiting Associate Professor of Surgery, Division of Plastic Surgery. His interests include post-weight loss plastic surgery combined with lifestyle and nutritional counseling to maintain weight loss. He has authored numerous publications and was a two-time recipient of the Joseph M. Serletti, MD, Resident Award for Excellence in Academic Plastic Surgery. Dr. Vicki March is Co-Director and Co-Founder of UPMC BodyChangers, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. In addition, she is the Medical Director of The Lifestyle Program in the Minimally Invasive Bariatric and General Surgery Division. Dr. March received her medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She then completed her residency at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is March is board-certified in both Internal Medicine and Obesity Medicine and has authored several publications

Drs. Jeffrey Gusenoff and Vicki March has 1 post(s) at EngagingPatients.org


Best Practices and Methodologies

Redesigning the Surgical Care Experience: Patients and Families Lead the Way at UPMC

This is the second in a series of guest blog posts, spotlighting how hospitals are engaging their patients to transform care delivery, using the six-step Patient and Family Centered Care Methodology and Practice (PFCC M/P). In 2007, I became a PFCC Champion of one of the first PFCC Working Groups formed at the University of […]

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Suzanne Rocks, MSN,RN Suzanne Rocks, RN, BSN, MSN, is the Patient and Family-Centered Care (PFCC) Clinical Champion for the PFCC Surgical Services Working Group at UPMC Presbyterian, a 500+ bed tertiary academic hospital at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. With over 20 years of clinical and management experience, Ms. Rocks is currently the Administrative Director of Perioperative Services at UPMC Presbyterian. She has spoken at numerous PFCC conferences, management forums, and quality board meetings and is the recipient of the Transformational Leadership Award announced during National Nurse’s Week activities at UPMC Presbyterian.

Suzanne Rocks, MSN,RN has 1 post(s) at EngagingPatients.org

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Best Practices and Methodologies

Engaging Patients Isn’t as Hard as You Think

Enter the words “engaging patients” into Google’s search engine and you will see over 35 million results, surely an indication that patient engagement is very high on the radar screen for many of us in health care. And rightly so. Active participation in care delivery is an important element in not only patient satisfaction but […]

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Pamela Greenhouse, VP, Clinical Operations, Wellbridge Health Pamela has 25+ years of leadership experience in healthcare operations, spanning the continuum of care (ambulatory, acute, rehabilitation, home care and long-term care). She joined Wellbridge Health, Inc. (wellbridgehealth.com) in 2016 as Vice-President, Clinical Operations. Wellbridge Health is a care management solutions company, the goal of which is to reduce hospital re-admissions and avoidable ER visits through integrated methods of tele-monitoring and health coaching by social workers and nurses. Ms. Greenhouse has co-authored over 30 papers in peer-reviewed scholarly journals with a focus on improving care delivery, patient centered care, patient engagement, and experienced based design. She has spoken nationally and internationally on these topics, as well. She holds an M.B.A. in Organizational Behavior.

Pamela Greenhouse, VP, Clinical Operations, Wellbridge Health has 11 post(s) at EngagingPatients.org

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