Healthcare professionals often encounter patients experiencing agitation or displaying hostile behavior during their careers. De-escalation is a set of approaches and techniques used to assist patients in self-calming to avoid incidents of harm to self, others, or property. Professionals should understand escalation and physiological responses to threats. After determining the risk of escalation, healthcare professionals can use various aspects of verbal communication, such as tone and pitch, and nonverbal communication skills to defuse potentially hostile situations and apply the least restrictive interventions. 

Medication errors and substandard care occur often in today’s complex healthcare organizations. High-reliability organizations remain alert to potential errors and ways in which they can be prevented, regardless of how few adverse events occur. Healthcare organizations with a culture for patient safety focus on identifying the cause of errors and applicable prevention strategies rather than blaming or punishing the people involved in an error. Organizations that focus on patient safety in this manner have higher rates of error reporting and are better positioned to address problems at the systems level.

The goal of this course is to educate healthcare professionals about approaches to prevent medication errors.

Antibiotic stewardship is a movement to improve antibiotic use through evidence-based practice. Team members become the stewards of antibiotics. This helps these medications continue to effectively fight infections. Antibiotic stewardship follows core elements to improve the use of antibiotics and their outcomes. This course discusses the core elements and benefits of an antibiotic stewardship program.
 

Improving hospital processes surrounding discharge and transitions of care can reduce adverse events and readmissions. Process improvements may also lead to better patient adherence to the treatment plan and their overall experience with care. Healthcare professionals must understand care coordination and transitions of care and how they impact HCAHPS survey results.

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey is a national standardized survey required for hospitals participating in Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) programs. Survey results are linked to hospital reimbursement from CMS. 

Alcohol use disorder is a primary health condition that interacts with and complicates many other health problems and psychiatric disorders. Unfortunately, only a small number of people with alcohol use disorder receive appropriate treatment for substance use issues. The incorporation of screening for alcohol use disorders in a general medical setting can significantly increase the number of individuals with alcohol use disorders who are identified and treated. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved 4 medications to treat alcohol use disorder, making treatment in primary care and other general medical settings a viable alternative to specialty care. This course will give you valuable information about these medications as well as several medications used off-label.

The current opioid use epidemic has had devastating consequences for those impacted by it. Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) is an effective, yet underused, approach to the treatment of opioid use disorder. By taking this course, you will have information that you can share with your clients and their family members about what MOUD is, its risks and benefits, and the types of medications used in MOUD. The goal of this course is to provide addictions, behavioral health counseling, marriage and family therapy, nursing, psychology, and social work professionals in health and human services settings with an overview of what MOUD is, how it can help individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), and the medications used by providers that treat OUD.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) was enacted to prevent patient dumping by hospitals seeking to avoid unrecoverable costs of care for patients without insurance or the ability to pay for medical services. Language within the statute has led to inconsistencies in how it has been interpreted. Patient dumping and inappropriate medical screening examinations (MSEs) are the most common reasons for EMTALA violations (Ladd & Gupta, 2021). This course will describe how key terms are currently interpreted and how they apply to hospitals with a dedicated emergency department (ED). In addition, learners will have an opportunity to review cases where EMTALA violations were alleged and judgments applied by the courts. 

Sexuality and gender identity have received significant attention in the last few decades across the spectrum of health and human services. This module presents a brief overview of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community and its history within society and healthcare systems. It offers definitions of key concepts related to sexuality and gender identity, as well as general implications for clinical education, practice, and research. This topic is constantly evolving, requiring healthcare professionals to continually need education on this topic. The goal of this course is to provide nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, social work, speech-language, and pathology/audiology professionals with education around the historical context of the LGBTQ+ population and best practices when interacting with and providing care for the LGBTQ+ population.

Sexuality and gender identity have received significant attention in the last few decades across the spectrum of health and human services. This module presents a brief overview of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community and its history within society and healthcare systems. It offers definitions of key concepts related to sexuality and gender identity, as well as general implications for clinical education, practice, and research. This topic is constantly evolving, requiring healthcare professionals to continually need education on this topic. The goal of this course is to provide nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, physical therapy, social work, speech-language, and pathology/audiology professionals with education around the historical context of the LGBTQ+ population and best practices when interacting with and providing care for the LGBTQ+ population.

Anesthesia administration has become increasingly safer, but is not without risk. Patient- and family-centered care and the desire to save costs has led to a shift in perioperative care needs from “stabilize and admit” to “stabilize and discharge.” Each patient undergoing anesthesia requires competent, professional nursing staff to assist in timely and safe medication administration, maintenance, and recovery. Knowledge of anesthetic techniques, agents, and adjuvants is vital to this competence.

This course will cover an overview of topics surrounding medication administration including pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, safety standards, and legal and ethical guidelines for practice. The learner will use case scenarios to gain a deeper understanding of the foundational practice.

The Health and Medicine Division’s (HMD) Healthy People 2030 and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality have highlighted the health disparities affecting LGBTQ+ populations. As evidence of health-illness patterns continues to be reported in the literature, this module presents the complex social determinants of health unique among the LGBTQ+ community. Information will be analyzed based on the six conceptual perspectives for understanding LGBTQ+ health suggested by the HMD: stigma, social constructionism, identity affirmation, life course, intersectionality, and social ecology. The goal of this course is to provide social workers, nurses, occupational therapists, pharmacists, speech-language pathologists and audiologists, physical therapists, and physicians with education regarding the issues of the LGBTQ+ community within the healthcare system.

The perioperative nurse plays a primary role in the anesthesia experience. Knowledge of techniques, patient assessment, and care management for the patient receiving or recovering from anesthesia positively impacts patient outcomes. This course discusses anesthetics and adjuvant medications used in the perioperative setting, anesthesia-related complications, and the nurse’s role in assisting with anesthesia management.

This course provides nursing professionals with information about the principles and practices of anesthesia care in the perioperative setting.