August 2020 Release Notes
The time has been flying by with fall just around the corner! Hoping that that you and yours are still able to stay safe. Here's what we've been up to this past August.
New in the Content Library
We've added 16 new pieces of content, including additions in English 🇺🇸 to Advance Directives and Immunotherapy and videos in Greek 🇬🇷 spanning CPR, Goals of Care, and Hospice. Check them out below.
Advance Directives
- Keeping Your Advance Directive Up to Date
- Keeping Your Advance Directive Up to Date (PDF)
Immunotherapy
- Immunotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (All Chapters)
- Immunotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (PDF)
- Immunotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (Chapter One: Introduction to Checkpoint Inhibitors)
- Immunotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (Chapter Two: Side Effects)
- Immunotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (Chapter Three: Frequently Asked Questions)
- Immunotherapy and Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (Chapter Four: Conclusion)
CPR
- CPR: Advanced Heart Failure in Greek
- CPR: Advanced Liver Disease in Greek
- CPR: General Overview for Hospitalized Patients with Serious Illness in Greek
Goals of Care
- Goals of Care: Advanced Care in Greek
- Goals of Care: Advanced Liver Disease in Greek
- Goals of Care: Advanced Heart Failure in Greek
- Goals of Care: General Overview in Greek
Hospice
- Hospice: An Introduction in Greek
New on the Blog
In case you missed it, here are our latest research, white paper, and blog post updates!
Research Update: Hospice Advanced Cancer Video
(2 min read, intro)
"Amongst patients that participated in the video intervention, post-intervention results included an increase in patients’ preference for hospice (70% to 87%), an increase in patients’ knowledge regarding hospice (9.0 versus 8.4), and a lower likelihood by patients to endorse that hospice was only about death (6.7% versus 21.6%). Most surprisingly, among decreased patients, those assigned to the video intervention were also more likely to have used hospice (85.2% versus 63.6%) and to have had a longer hospice length of stay (median, 12 days versus 3 days)."
White Paper: Implementing an ACP Program that Reduces Cost Without Compromising Care
(1 min read, intro)
"According to a Kaiser Health Tracking Poll in 2015, 89% of the public favored doctor-patient discussions of end-of-life care issues. However, this same poll indicated that only 17% of people reported ever discussing end-of-life care with their doctor...
"In our White Paper, Implementing an ACP Program that Reduces Costs Without Compromising Care, we discuss the importance of a comprehensive ACP solution, how it can contribute to a more sustainable care system, how to implement such a program, and how ACP Decisions can help in this process."
Health Literacy: A Valuable Tool in the Fight Against COVID-19
(3 min read)
"Numerous studies over the last several decades have shown that only an estimated 12% of U.S. adults have what is considered proficient health literacy skills. The widespread lack of health literacy is a significant public health challenge because it negatively affects health outcomes and increases the risk of morbidity and mortality across a significant portion of the U.S. population."
How to Integrate Patient Decision Aids into Clinical Practice
(4 min read)
"One of the best, evidenced-based interventions for achieving meaningful conversations that engage patients to make informed decisions is the practice of using patient decision aids (PDAs). In fact, there are more than 100 published studies that support the use of PDAs.
"Unfortunately, the beneficial practice of integrating PDAs into clinical practice is underutilized. While many healthcare providers feel they do not have enough time to learn how to use and include decision aids into their practice, PDAs can actually help overcome common barriers to shared decision making. Developing a workflow..."
Technology Platform Updates
Action Needed: Wistia Whitelisting
To help ensure a great video experience, please ensure your IT team is aware of the following in order to ensure smooth playback of videos within your network.
Our video hosting provider, Wistia, recently added a new subdomain to their list of domains to whitelist. If your organization does not support the whitelisting of wildcards *.wistia.com and only supports the whitelisting of subdomains, please add embed-fastly.wistia.com to your whitelist. You can find more information here.
Recent Improvements
A big effort this past month was spent on the following improvements:
- Improved accessibility of languages tags and focus indicators
- Resolved an issue where the layout for the patient homepage might appear distorted on Internet Explorer 11
- Resolved issue where print directions made by orders in the Android app may not be properly reflected in the My ACP Decisions web app
- Added support for audio descriptions on Android video player
- Added support for Android 10.0
That's all for now! Take care and stay tuned for next month's updates.
- The ACP Decisions Team