Products and Resources

New Edition of Pocket Guide to Pressure Ulcers Now Available

As of October 1, 2012, new federal requirements were put in place for inpatient rehabilitation facilities, long-term care hospitals, and hospice facilities for reporting data on pressure ulcers. If these new requirements are not properly followed, it could cost the providers Medicare dollars. According to the new guidelines under Section 3004 of the Affordable Care Act, quality data must be reported on the percentage of Medicare patients with new or worsened pressure ulcers. To assist medical professionals on this transition for the new protocol, the New Jersey Hospital Association has recently released the third edition of the Pocket Guide to Pressure Ulcers.

Compared with the previous edition, the third edition has been expanded to include a detailed section about the new reporting requirements broken down for all provider types and includes illustrations and descriptions to help identify and document pressure ulcers. “Proper staging and documentation will remain key factors in helping hospitals, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and hospices meet Medicare’s requirements,” said Jeffrey M. Levine, MD, guidebook co-author and geriatrician at Beth Israel Medical Center, New York.

For more information or to purchase a copy of the Pocket Guide to
Pressure Ulcers, visit https://www.njha.com/PressureUlcer/​. The third edition is also available in iBook format for iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone devices, and can be purchased  directly from the Apple store.  In addition, a Spanish version is available as of 
November 2012.

New System Integrates Beside Care With Quick, Accurate Documentation

It is becoming progressively more important for medical technology to keep up with the increasing demands on long-term care (LTC) nurses to handle multiple tasks of patient care while ensuring accuracy and accountability of documentation. Manufactured by Nurse Rosie Products, a medical equipment company specializing in the LTC market, RosieConnect is an automated system that captures and sends vital signs, glucose readings, and weight from the patient’s bedside to his or her electronic medical record (EMR) in real-time. The RosieConnect is designed to interface with the EMRs active in the LTC market. This wireless system is not only a time-saver, but a life-saver as well, as it can alert nurses immediately if the data it has collected indicates any health complications.

This product uses icon-driven software activated by a single touch to the tablet mounted on the Rosie 3 Vitals Monitor Rolling Cart. By selecting the patient’s name, the caregiver is promptly shown all vitals gathered from all other Rosie monitoring products, including the RosieSmartScale and RosieSmartMeters. With the instantaneous access to up-to-date data, nurses are able to make immediate adjustments to all patient care plans. There is also no risk of record mistakes, as the data is collected straight from the patient and it requires no need of transfer between records or devices that might cause clerical or transcription errors.

RosieConnect can be connected through WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth, or USB and is compatible with multiple devices. The data is encrypted and password-protected, allowing for complete accountability and providing an audit trail. To get more information on RosieConnect and how to incorporate it into your facility, visit www.nurserosie.com.