The Patient Story

The Patient Story gives humanized answers, from real community members, to questions about what to ask doctors, what to understand about treatment options, and so much more about living daily with a cancer diagnosis – for both patients and caregivers.

SAN FRANCISCO (PRWEB)
February 17, 2022

The Patient Story today announces its newly launched community website. The new site at ThePatientStory.com leverages the personal experiences and stories of hundreds of community members to offer answers and insights to help patients and caregivers – from those newly-diagnosed to those navigating treatment options. The Patient Story was created by Stephanie Chuang, a former NBC Bay Area news journalist and storyteller, after battling – and beating – cancer, herself.

“I was two months from getting married when I was suddenly diagnosed with stage 3 non-Hodgkin lymphoma — over the phone. I let myself cry for five minutes before it was onto ‘what’s next’ research,” Chuang recalls. “There is so much information online, but it was all statistics and jargon. It’s overwhelming for someone already completely overwhelmed. I felt helpless.”

In between cycles of chemotherapy (almost 700 hours of it), she thought about creating a platform to help address this – a place that would give humanized answers to questions about what to ask doctors, what to understand about treatment options, and so much more about living daily with a cancer diagnosis – for both patients and caregivers.

That’s how The Patient Story was born. The website goes beyond statistics and studies, to focus on advice and stories directly from current patients, survivors, caregivers, and medical experts. While no two cancer patients are the same (even with the same diagnosis), those who share a diagnosis can have helpful first-hand information to offer. Some of the stories are funny, some are hopeful, and some are gritty – but they all are real community members openly sharing their own experiences with cancer with incredible vulnerability. People who’ve found ways to successfully get through such a traumatic time share an honest, comforting narrative that is often missing for many trying to figure out their own diagnosis.

Visitors can navigate the website by cancer type, hear from top medical voices without the jargon, and even browse a list of frequently asked questions such as, “What’s the best way to break the news to loved ones? Especially to kids?” or “How do I ensure I get the best possible care – what is self advocacy and how do I do it well?” Most stories are in video or long written format, and provide insight from many angles.

“The Patient Story is a place dedicated to helping support our community in mental health and wellness, which are just as important to tend to post-diagnosis. I remember the darkness I fell into as I found myself deep in depression for the first time in my life. There was also anxiety and just a newness I wasn’t able to grapple with on my own,” says Chuang. “Let’s normalize talking about these hardships, from diagnosis through treatment, and also the pains that grip the caregivers. We need this more now than ever.”

To connect with The Patient Story:

Web: http://www.ThePatientStory.com

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/ThePatientStory

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepatientstory

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepatientstory

Twitter: https://twitter.com/patient_story

About The Patient Story

The Patient Story curates in-depth interviews from recent cancer survivors to give newly diagnosed patients and caregivers a sense of what their lives may look like in the upcoming months. The Patient Story was started by Stephanie Chuang, a non-Hodgkin lymphoma survivor, who is on a mission to provide cancer patients and caregivers with the information they need, presented in a way they can easily understand. Visit http://www.ThePatientStory.com to learn more.

Share article on social media or email:

Alison Braman, Hilti North America HR executive, elected to CHC: Creating Healthier Communities’ National Board of Directors

“I look forward to contributing my skills and expertise to help advance health equity and create healthier communities for all people.”

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (PRWEB)
February 17, 2022

CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, a nationwide nonprofit that addresses the barriers to good health and equity, today announced that Alison Braman was unanimously elected to its national board of directors.

“We’re honored to welcome Alison Braman to the board,” said Thomas G. Bognanno, president and CEO at CHC. “Her diverse leadership experience will be a valuable asset and instrumental in advancing our mission.”

Alison Braman currently serves as senior vice president of Human Resources for Hilti North America, leading the talent acquisition, payroll, learning and development, diversity and inclusion, benefits, compensation and talent management functions for the organization.

Braman began her career with Hilti in 2015 as a Human Resources director and was promoted to global business partner in 2017, where she provided instrumental leadership to drive people development topics while leading a global project focused on transforming team member engagement. Braman was promoted to her current role on the Hilti North America Executive Management Team in 2019.

Prior to joining Hilti, Braman worked with The Home Depot as a strategic business partner for a $4 billion business unit with over 16,000 associates across seven states. While at The Home Depot, Braman led a team of 15 HR professionals in a multi-unit environment covering 119 locations.

Before joining The Home Depot, Braman served as the Operations and Human Resources director for a nonprofit organization providing foster care, adoption services, counseling and case management for families and children in need.

“I’m proud to join CHC’s dedicated national board,” said Alison Braman, board director at CHC. “I look forward to contributing my skills and expertise to help advance health equity and create healthier communities for all people.”

Braman holds a degree in Organizational Leadership from Arizona State University and serves on the advisory board for Catalyst. She and her family reside in the Dallas, Texas metro area.

About Hilti

Hilti North America has its headquarters in Plano, Texas. There are 3,900 team members across the US and Canada, most of whom are in sales, service, engineering, and marketing, providing direct support to Hilti customers. The Hilti Group supplies the worldwide construction and energy industries with technologically leading products, systems, software and services, with about 31,000 team members in over 120 countries.

About CHC: Creating Healthier Communities

CHC: Creating Healthier Communities brings nonprofits, businesses, and communities together around a shared commitment to better health and wellbeing. For more than 65 years, CHC has worked with partners to address the barriers to good health and equity and create resilient communities where everyone can thrive. CHC’s role is to advance equity, enhance the capacity of nonprofit organizations, connect and convene diverse stakeholders, and harness collective resources and programs to activate collaborations that address root causes, increase impact, and improve the health of our communities. Join us at chcimpact.org or @chcimpact.

Share article on social media or email:

Maurice Alexander, PharmD, BCOP, CPP is the Chair of HOPA’s DEI Task Force

Longstanding systems of racism and inequity significantly impact the lives of many HOPA members and patients. It is important for HOPA to support those with diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and lived experiences.

MILWUAKEE (PRWEB)
February 17, 2022

The Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) Task Force for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has released the association’s official DEI statement online. The statement is integral to HOPA’s commitment to advocating for equitable health policies and more inclusive research studies, as well as for diversifying its educational products and resources to reflect the needs of all hematology/oncology pharmacy professionals.

“We assembled the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Task Force to help formalize our commitment to our patients and our members,” says HOPA President Larry W. Buie, PharmD, BCOP, FCCP, FASHP, and Clinical Pharmacy Manager at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. “The statement is one of many ways we have accomplished that.”

HOPA’s membership and retention efforts, as well as its leadership elections and member award programs, will also be facilitated through a clearer DEI lens, thanks to the work of the task force.

“Bringing DEI to the forefront of our priorities allows HOPA to better align with the needs of our membership and the communities we serve,” says HOPA DEI Task Force Vice-Chair, Britny Brown, PharmD, BCOP, and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island College of Pharmacy.

“Longstanding systems of racism and inequity significantly impact the lives of many HOPA members and patients,” explains HOPA DEI Task Force Chair, Maurice Alexander, PharmD, BCOP, CPP, and Clinical Manager of Hematology/Oncology Clinical Pharmacy Services at the University of North Carolina Medical Center. “It is important for HOPA to support those with diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and lived experiences.”

Dr. Alexander explains that HOPA’s commitment extends to all races, religions, genders, orientations, ages and abilities. So, the task force has worked to devise a DEI approach that considers all disadvantaged and marginalized populations. He and Dr. Brown led a group of 12 HOPA task force members through a comprehensive review of policies and procedures and worked directly with council, committee, and board leaders to create a culture centered on DEI.

Dr. Brown says HOPA set the bar high for the DEI Task Force. “We were given the opportunity to re-envision HOPA with DEI as a central focus. We knew this was more than a one-time commitment from leadership.”

Later this year, the HOPA DEI Task Force, which is a time-limited initiative, will disband and a DEI Committee will be formed.

About HOPA:

The Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association (HOPA) supports hematology/oncology pharmacy professionals and promotes the role of the pharmacist in collaborative cancer care. Founded in 2004, HOPA provides crucial education, networking, and advancement opportunities frequently sought by pharmacists, pharmacy interns, residents, fellows, students, technicians, researchers, and administrators who specialize in hematology/oncology pharmacy. Its vision is to ensure that all individuals affected by cancer have a hematology/oncology pharmacist as an integral member of their care team.

Share article on social media or email:

High-performing companies stand out by viewing quality as more than a compliance effort and injecting quality into product development and supplier management processes.

INDIANAPOLIS (PRWEB)
February 17, 2022

Greenlight Guru, pioneer of the only dedicated Medical Device Success Platform (MDSP), today announced findings from its 2022 benchmark study on product development, quality management, and commercialization efforts in the medical device industry. This original research report provides the medical device community with insights into key benchmarks, industry challenges, quality management preparedness, and what leading companies are doing differently.

With three years of data to compare, the 2022 report shows year-over-year declines in the use of general purpose tools for product development and quality activities. Despite these year-over-year improvements, a third of pre-market companies still attempt to get by with these general purpose tools.

This report also reveals that use of general purpose tools correlates with lower performance. Furthermore, companies that are unwilling to invest in purpose built tools put themselves at risk for significant and expensive consequences — from silent inefficiencies to missed performance signals and compliance threats.

“We found that more companies are instituting feedback loops for quality problems, but a significant number of medical device companies still struggle to leverage quality as an asset to accelerate their development,” said David DeRam, CEO of Greenlight Guru. “High-performing companies stand out by viewing quality as more than a compliance effort and injecting quality into product development and supplier management processes. This is why 81% of high-performing market leaders maintain a strong feedback loop between these teams.”

Survey data also revealed that accelerating product development is a critical priority for companies in 2022, with nearly 2 out of 3 executives (63%) citing it. This represents a 37 point jump in just 12 months.

Despite the anticipated growth, the COVID-19 pandemic still exposed defects in important processes like supplier management that previously lay dormant. More than 3 in 4 respondents say their supplier quality management program is average or below average. “COVID really revealed how risky we were behaving with very little supplier qualification,” shared one survey respondent. “We found many of our suppliers were also in much riskier positions than we thought.”

Additional findings from the report include:

• While 8 in 10 predict growth for the year ahead, only 8% report feeling very well equipped to meet objectives in 2022.
• 80% of high-performing market leaders in the field say they have processes in place to connect quality issues to R&D and management.
• Speeding product development and approvals is a priority for executives while management sees a critical need to upgrade systems and processes to stay audit-ready.
• Just 28% say they have achieved “high visibility” into quality data — meaning the people who need to access quality information can readily consult it.

Results from the 2022 benchmark study were driven from an online survey that was fielded between November 4 and November 30, 2021. Survey respondents consisted of 519 participants, of whom are employed in quality, product development, and executive management positions by device organizations ranging in size from small to enterprise-level that are located in various regions around the world. Click here to download the full report.

To get a deeper dive into the report findings, register for the upcoming 2022 State Of Medical Device True Quality Virtual Summit Series and attend engaging panel discussions from industry experts. Discover what high-performing companies do differently and gain actionable insights to take your organization to the next level.

This release follows the announcement of True Quality 2022, the must-attend conference hosted by Greenlight Guru for medical device executives, quality, and regulatory professionals who drive innovation in the most high-performing medical device companies. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities click here, or to register for True Quality 2022 visit https://www.greenlight.guru/true-quality.

###

About Greenlight Guru

Greenlight Guru is the only dedicated Medical Device Success Platform (MDSP) designed specifically for medical device companies. The platform helps companies bring safer products to market faster, simplifies FDA and ISO regulatory compliance and provides a single source of truth by connecting the management of all quality processes like CAPAs, risk, audits and more. Greenlight Guru’s platform is used by thousands of organizations across the globe to push beyond baseline compliance and achieve True Quality for their medical devices. For more information, visit http://www.greenlight.guru.

Media Contact

Naomi Gollmer

naomi.gollmer@greenlight.guru

(419) 518-0067

Share article on social media or email:

Understanding what influences user satisfaction with laboratory instrumentation, instrument service, and instrument manufacturers is key to helping manufacturers ensure that these tests are performed in a timely manner on accurate and reliable equipment.

ARLINGTON, Va. (PRWEB)
February 17, 2022

Today, IMV, part of Science and Medicine Group, the leading market research and business intelligence provider to the laboratory diagnostic industry, announced the category winners of the 2021 IMV ServiceTrak™ awards in clinical analyzers.

Chemistry Systems:

• ● Best Service: Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
• ● Best System Performance: Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Immunoassay Systems:

• ● Best Service: bioMérieux
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
• ● Best System Performance: bioMérieux

Integrated Systems:

• ● Best Service: Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: Ortho Clinical Diagnostics
• ● Best System Performance: Ortho Clinical Diagnostics

Hematology Systems:

• ● Best Service: Sysmex
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: Sysmex
• ● Best System Performance: Sysmex

Coagulation Analyzers:

• ● Best Service: Werfen
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: Diagnostica Stago
• ● Best System Performance: Diagnostica Stago and Werfen

ID/AST Systems:

• ● Best Service: Beckman Coulter and bioMérieux
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: bioMérieux
• ● Best System Performance: Beckman Coulter and bioMérieux

Blood Culture Systems:

• ● Best Service: bioMérieux
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: bioMérieux
• ● Best System Performance: bioMérieux

Molecular Diagnostics:

• ● Best Service: Hologic, Inc.
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: BioFire Diagnostics
• ● Best System Performance: BioFire Diagnostics

Urinalysis Analyzers:

• ● Best Service: Roche Diagnostics
• ● Best Customer Satisfaction: Siemens Healthineers
• ● Best System Performance: Siemens Healthineers

The 2021 ServiceTrak™ Clinical Laboratory Awards are based on interviews conducted in 2021 with respondents in 2,464 clinical testing locations having 7,414 instruments. Probing on the customer experience from installation to instrument end of life, IMV ServiceTrak™ has been an industry benchmarking standard for over 25 years.

Clinical laboratory tests are critical to the management of patients and the diagnosis of disease throughout the world. These in vitro tests rely on a wide variety of instruments to measure the relevant analytes in all types of body fluids, including serum, blood, urine, and others. The laboratory instruments are used for everything from performing routine assays that identify early indications of disease to tests that aid in the diagnosis of illness for patients with complaints and symptoms.

Understanding what influences user satisfaction with laboratory instrumentation, instrument service, and instrument manufacturers is key to helping manufacturers ensure that these tests are performed in a timely manner on accurate and reliable equipment.

IMV produces an annual series of proprietary ServiceTrak™ Clinical Laboratory reports derived from extensive phone and online interviews with laboratory testing professionals in hospitals in the U.S. These reports present an independent analysis of service trends in laboratory diagnostics and include manufacturer ratings for each instrument type. Laboratory professionals are asked to rate their level of satisfaction with the instrument manufacturers, the system performance, and the service received for their laboratory testing instruments. Satisfaction ratings are collected on a 10-point scale, in which 10 = “excellent” and 1 = “very poor.” Report analysis is based on the percentage of highly satisfied (%HS) responses, which are represented by satisfaction ratings of 9 or 10 on this scale.

The awards are presented to the manufacturer with the highest %HS responses in each of three categories, representing the industry Best of Customer Satisfaction, System Performance, and Service. The Best of Customer Satisfaction award is given to the manufacturer that has the highest %HS responses when respondents are asked to rate the likelihood they will purchase again from their current manufacturer. The Best of System Performance award is given to the manufacturer whose customers have the highest %HS responses when asked to rate their overall system performance. The Best of Service award is given to the manufacturer whose customers give the highest %HS responses when asked to rate overall OEM service performance.

Share article on social media or email: