Literature Review

Developing competencies to advance health care access and quality for Latino, Hispanic, and Spanish origin populations-A consensus statementJAMA Network Open; by Débora H. Silva, John A. Davis Rodríguez, Hector Rasgado-Flores, Pilar Ortega, Deion Ellis, Fernando Sánchez Mendoza, Victor Cueto, Fabiola Quintero-Rivera, Norma Iris Poll-Hunter, Minerva Romero Arenas, Kenneth Lee Dominguez, Juan Emilio Carrillo, José E. Rodríguez, John Paul Sánchez; 8/25Question: What competencies and milestones are essential for advancing health equity for Latina, Latino, Latinx, Latine, Hispanic, and Spanish Origin (LHS+) populations? Since the 1970s, the LHS+ population has increased 6-fold and grown to be the largest ethnic or racial group in the US and accounts for approximately 20% of the US population. The LHS+ health equity competencies and milestones resulting from this study add to prior work by creating a blueprint for standardization and broader application of such educational experiences on a national level. As a tool to enhance CBME [competency-based medical education ] efforts aligned with care for LHS+ populations, the competencies may aid educators and institutions through an LHS+–informed lens in conducting gap analyses for the development of local curricula, developing teaching and assessment materials, supporting the professional development of learners and faculty, and facilitating educational scholarship. 

Clinicians who practice primarily in nursing homes and the quality of care for residents with Alzheimer Disease and related dementiasJAMA Health Forum; by Hyunkyung Yun, Mark Aaron Unruh, Yuting Qian, Yongkang Zhang, Hye-Young Jung; 8/25In this cohort study, receipt of care from a SNFist [skilled nursing facility specialist] vs a non-SNFist was associated with a 7% decrease in the odds of a hospitalization and a 7% decrease in the odds of an emergency department visit for an ambulatory care–sensitive condition among residents with dementia. Findings of this cohort study suggest that the use of SNFists by NHs [nursing homes] may enhance the quality of care for residents with ADRD [Alzheimer disease and related dementias].

Family says bear attack victim to be transferred to hospice care KNWA/KFTA FOX-24, Little Rock, AR; by Justin Trobaugh; 9/9/25 The family of a Franklin County man says Sept. 8 that his condition has worsened and that he has been moved to hospice care. Vernon Patton, 72, is being held at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences after being attacked by a bear in the Mulberry Mountain area of Franklin County on Sept. 3. Patton was working on a gravel road with his tractor near Mulberry Mountain Lodge Park when the black bear attacked, according to Keith Stephens with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC). His son arrived to check on him and saw the bear actively attacking. Editor's Note: Executive leaders, traumatic events like this that lead to a hospice admission call for extra support for your clinical, direct care professionals and volunteers. They can experience secondary trauma as they tend horrific wounds, both physical (for the patient) and emotional (for family and friends). Also, what policies do you have in place to balance important community news and family privacy (e.g. staff or volunteers posting anything on social media).

Reducing family caregiver burden may prevent 30-day ED readmissions among community-dwelling older adults, study finds McKnights Long-Term Care News; by Foster Stubbs; 9/9/25 Alleviating caregiver burden may reduce returns to the emergency department for older adults up to 30 days after a discharge, according to research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study examined 1409 dyads or duos of community-dwelling patients 65 years or older and their family caregivers. ... [Questions] included items about strain in the caregiver’s role and personal life associated with caregiving. ... "We interpret these findings as evidence that caregiver burden may contribute to a negative care transition, associated with 30-day ED revisits, ..."

The next phase in virtual nursing Becker's Health IT; by Ella Jeffries; 9/9/25 The face of a nurse now appears on a television screen in hundreds of rooms at Jackson, Mich.-based Henry Ford Jackson Hospital. From a command center down the hall, the nurse conducts safety checks, reviews charts and helps patients prepare for discharge — all without ever crossing the threshold. This new model, known as virtual nursing, is not a futuristic experiment so much as a response to an immediate crisis. Michigan is already short as many as 20,000 registered nurses, according to Eric Wallis, DNP, RN, chief nursing officer of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health, and the average nurse in the state is older than 50.

Where AI can make the biggest impact for nurses Becker's Health IT; by Ella Jeffries; 9/2/25 Artificial intelligence in nursing is often framed as a way to cut paperwork. But nurse informatics leaders told Becker’s its potential goes beyond that, reshaping nurses’ role, strengthening patient safety and providing real-time insights that improve care. Many did say the most immediate opportunity lies in easing the documentation burden. Jason Atkins, RN, chief clinical informatics officer at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, pointed to ambient listening, chart summarization and care plan automation as tools that can free nurses from clicks in the EHR. These tools allow nurses to spend more time “caring out loud” with patients instead of navigating screens, he said. 

When I go, I'm going green KFF Health News; by Paula Span; 9/8/25 More Americans are choosing burials in which everything is biodegradable. ... “Do you see a lot of interest in green burials?” I asked the friendly town cemetery commissioner who was showing me around. “I don’t think we’ve had a traditional burial in two years,” he said. “It’s all green.”

Update on malpractice claimsLinkedIn; by Elizabeth Hogue; 9/3/25New analysis by Claggett, Sykes and Garza Trial Lawyers shows that registered nurses (RNs) and physicians continue to top the list of health professions most likely to be sued for malpractice... While the total number of malpractice suits has decreased by almost 20% in ten years, the severity of claims has risen... Home care nurses, including those providing hospice and palliative care, were the most vulnerable to professional liability claims of all nursing specialties... [The article includes factors that may contribute to increases in claims against home health nurses and strategies that nurses can use to protect themselves from malpractice claims.]

Risky prescribing and the epidemic of deaths from fallsJAMA Health Forum; Thomas A. Farley; 8/25In 2023, more than 41,000 individuals older than 65 years died from falls. More importantly, the mortality rate for falls among older adults in the US has more than tripled during the past 30 years. Drugs that cause drowsiness or impaired balance or coordination have been called fall risk–increasing drugs (FRIDs). The list of FRIDs is long and includes drugs such as β-blockers and anticholinergics, as well as proton pump inhibitors that may increase the risk of an injury during a fall. Four categories (opioids, benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids, and antidepressants) of central nervous system–active FRIDs are particularly concerning because of a combination of surging use and a strong association with falls. 

[Global] Palliative care for special populations ehospice; by Howard Kinyua; 9/1/25

Physician billing for advance care planning among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, 2016-2021The Permanente Journal; by Nan Wang, Changchuan Jiang, Elizabeth Paulk, Tianci Wang, Xin Hu; 8/25In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services started reimbursing practitioners for their time spent providing advance care planning (ACP) with patients. Results: The percentage of practitioners billing ACP visits tripled from 1.76% in 2016 to 4.56% in 2021, with the highest percentage among hospice and palliative medicine practitioners (36.94%) in 2021. ACP service volume was similar by metropolitan status for hospice and palliative medicine, but it was higher in nonmetropolitan regions for cancer-related specialties, non-cancer terminal disease specialties, and primary and geriatrics care. This nationwide analysis showed low adoption of ACP billing by 2021, and it varied widely across specialties. This may reflect practical challenges of ACP related to comfort level with ACP discussion and documentation burden among the professional communities.

Why physician strikes are a form of hospiceKevinMD; by Patrick Hudson; 8/24/25I have only recently started thinking about strikes. They seemed like something other people did: railway workers, bus drivers, teachers, dockworkers. People with contracts. People who clocked in and out. Not doctors. Not surgeons. Certainly not me. You and I were supposed to absorb and adapt. To advocate from within. And we did, for a long time. We bent ourselves into shapes that did not fit. Worked around all the broken processes. Made phone calls after hours. Took the extra shift. Rewrote the notes to satisfy a system that did not understand the work. Until, eventually, some of us stopped. Not because we wanted to burn it all down, but because we could not keep pretending. And that is what a strike is, sometimes. Not rebellion. Not rage. Just a line and a refusal. And an end to the performance. Is it not strange how long you can work inside a system that is eating itself? ... You do not strike because you have stopped caring. You strike because you remember when it mattered.Publisher's note: An interesting analogy for our fractured healthcare system...

States with the most, fewest licensed nursesBecker's Clinical Leadership; by Mariah Taylor; 8/13/25The National Council of State Boards of Nursing found Washington, D.C., has the most licensed nurses per capita, while Utah is the state with the fewest... The data found Wyoming and Vermont had the fewest licensed nurses in their states overall, at 9,440 and 12,957, respectively. Meanwhile, California and Texas had the most licensed nurses at 578,043 and 526,812, respectively. Becker’s used 2024 Census data to calculate how many nurses are in each state per 100,000 population. Here are [states] with the most and fewest nurses:Most [licensed RNs per 100,000 population]