Rachelle Rotunda driving PPAHS’s awareness in the digital community to help improve health care and patient safety.
The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety (PPAHS) is pleased to announce the appointment of Rachelle Rotunda to the PPAHS team.
As the Digital Community Manager, Ms. Rotunda will be driving PPAHS’s digital awareness effort to assist with PPAHS’s mission – improving health care and patient safety. She will help with engagement, improve website traffic, and enhance visibility among the digital community.
“The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety is making a difference in improving health care and patient safety,” said Ms. Rotunda, “and I am proud to have a central role in helping to improve PPAHS’s presence in the digital community and ensure our health and safety messages are heard.”
PPAHS is engaged in the three key initiatives for improving patient safety and health outcomes:
- Alarm Management (noise fatigue) – according to The Joint Commission, alarm fatigue occurs when clinicians become desensitized or immune to the sound of an alarm. Fatigued clinicians may – turn down alarm volume, turn off alarm, or adjust alarm settings.
- Venous Thromboembolism (blood clots) – recent recommendations issued by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) look to reduce maternal mortality due to blood clots. These recommendations provide risk factors, such as history of VTE, obesity, hypertension and smoking, as well as risk prevention treatments.
- Opioid Safety (pain management) – The Joint Commission in Sentinel Event Alert on safe use of opioids in hospitals cautions: “While opioid use is generally safe for most patients, opioid analgesics may be associated with adverse effects, the most serious effect being respiratory depression, which is generally preceded by sedation.”
Together with health experts from the United States and around the world, the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety has facilitated the development of:
- The PCA Safety Checklist to help reduce adverse events and death with patients receiving opioids through patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps.
- The OB VTE Safety Recommendations to help decrease the incidence of blood clots in pregnant mothers.
- The Stroke VTE Safety Recommendations to help prevent blood clots in stroke patients.