Posts by Laura Blum
Health Data Literacy: A Story is Worth 1,000 Data Points
October is Health Literacy Month! Health literacy seems more important now than ever, with multiple sources identifying poor health literacy as a barrier to COVID-19 response efforts. John Zarocostas identified COVID-19 as an “infodemic” as much as a pandemic.
Read MoreThe Group that Studies Together Stays Together: Group Learning for Professional Development
Lantana is a distributed company, meaning all employees work remotely. Working from home has a lot of advantages: cost savings for both the company and employee, a smaller carbon footprint due to lack of a commute, and never having to wear real pants again (okay, sometimes we change out of our pajamas). Unfortunately, working from…
Read More6 Tips to Stay Sane While Working from Home
Advice from the Work from Home “Experts” at Lantana Consulting Group Lantana’s employees always work remotely, since 2005. After all that time working from home, we have some advice to share in light of the remote work mandates sweeping the nation due to COVID-19. 1. Get ready for work in the morning We’ll admit it:…
Read MoreU.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week: An Update on the Antimicrobial Use Option
U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (USAAW) raises awareness about appropriate antimicrobial use and the threat of antimicrobial resistance. More than 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur in the United States each year, and more than 35,000 people die as a result.[1] Improving antimicrobial use improves the treatment of infections, protects patients from preventable harms from antimicrobials, and…
Read MoreLessons Learned from Validation of Electronically-Submitted National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Antimicrobial Use (AU) Option Data
Laura Blum presented Lessons Learned from Validation of Electronically-Submitted National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Antimicrobial Use (AU) Option Data at 2019 Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) Annual Conference in Raleigh, NC. Hospital participation in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Antimicrobial Use (AU) surveillance increased exponentially…
Read MorePublic Health Analyst Series: Laura’s Journey
The me of ten years ago never would have predicted the career that I have now. Ten years ago, I was majoring in mathematics and economics at the University of California San Diego, on track to become a retirement actuary. I took a class on the US healthcare system to fulfill one of my general education requirements, and the professor assigned us a paper on a local healthcare organization of our choice.
Read MorePublic Health Analysts: Who We Are and What We Do
The American Public Health Association (APHA) observes National Public Health Week during the first week of April each year. Each of Lantana’s public health analysts has a story to tell of their journey–we couldn’t let the nursing informaticists have all the fun. Keep an eye out for upcoming blogs about the individual journeys each of…
Read MorePatient-Generated Health Data and EHR Integration
The PGHD Revolution With the rise in popularity of mobile health apps and wearable technology, the volume of patient-generated health data (PGHD) is rapidly outpacing providers’ ability to incorporate it into care. In fact, almost half of U.S. smart phone owners report using a mobile health tracking app. These new technologies create data…
Read More2017 Annual Retreat: My First Week at Lantana
I started a new job last month, joining Lantana Consulting Group as a Public Health Analyst, and my first week there was a little out of the ordinary. Lantana is a distributed company, which makes it easier to hire the best people no matter where they live. The tricky part of working remotely, with no…
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