Jan 27th, 2023 - Nursing home residents who were not up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines had a 30% to 50% higher risk of getting infected compared with those who were up to date, CDC researchers said. From Oct. 10, 2022 to Jan. 8, 2023, weekly COVID incidence rates ranged from 7.2 to 15.6 per 1,000 nursing home residents among those who were up to date with vaccinations compared with rates of 9.5 to 18.8 pe...

Jan 26th, 2023 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) falsely said the bivalent COVID booster vaccine increases chances of SARS-CoV infection, according to a fact-checking report. (Tampa Bay Times) The FDA's deputy commissioner for food policy and response has resigned, citing concerns about the agency's oversight structure. (AP) Newly put under lockdown for an unspecifi...

Jan 23rd, 2023 - Hospitalized adolescents have "unique and essential needs" that differ from those of younger pediatric inpatients, and it is critical that care teams have "knowledge, experience, and compassion" when it comes to addressing these specific needs, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said in a new policy statement. This statement marks the first of its kind published in the U.S., noted Cora Br...

Jan 12th, 2023 - The share of candidates who pass the licensure exam to work as a registered nurse has significantly dropped in recent years, and the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) -- the regulator tasked with overseeing the exams -- has no plans to make it any easier. Most leading nurse academics say that's a good thing. "Both as a nurse, but also as a potential patient, I want nurses to b...

Jan 11th, 2023 - Nearly a quarter of hospital stays involve adverse events from healthcare errors, and nearly one in 10 cause serious harm, according to a study replicating the landmark 1991 Harvard Medical Practice Study (HMPS). In a random sample of 2,809 admissions at 11 Massachusetts hospitals, 23.6% had at least one adverse event, 32.3% of which required substantial intervention or prolonged recovery, Davi...

Jan 10th, 2023 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. Public health officials continue to monitor the highly transmissible XBB.1.5 subvariant, warning it can more easily evade the immunity offered by COVID vaccines and prior infections. (The Hill) At the same time, scientists have been quick to shut down the notion that COVID vaccines are making variants like XBB.1.5 -- nicknamed "Kraken" for its nam...

Jan 3rd, 2023 - Pediatric exposures to edible cannabis products increased more than 10-fold in recent years, according to a retrospective analysis of the National Poison Data System. From 2017 to 2021, unintentional ingestions of cannabis edibles among U.S. children younger than 6 years rose from 207 to 3,054 cases, with almost all exposures (97.7%) occurring in a residential setting, reported Marit Tweet, MD,...

Dec 30th, 2022 - The pandemic was not the "root cause" of hospitals' problems recruiting and retaining nurses but, rather, a "contributing factor," said the authors of a cross-sectional study of registered nurses in two states. High levels of nurse burnout, job dissatisfaction, and intent to leave their employer predated the pandemic, reported Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, founding director at the Center for Health Out...

Dec 30th, 2022 - On May 12, hundreds of nurses flooded Capitol Hill, demanding an end to workplace violence and unsafe staffing ratios. A week earlier, emergency nurses and physicians met with lawmakers to support the re-introduction of a bill that would require setting a standard for healthcare worker safety. In this report, we follow up on what has happened since these two events and provide an update on effo...

Dec 14th, 2022 - Pharmacists have been reporting trouble with stocking certain psychiatric medications as a result of heightened monitoring of controlled substances from wholesalers amidst the nationwide opioid settlements. (Reuters) Compared with people with major depressive disorder alone, those who also experienced episodes of treatment-resistant depression had twice the rate of healthcare resource utilizati...

Dec 13th, 2022 - In this video, April Kapu, DNP, president of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), outlines current challenges to the profession. She also discusses the mental health, professional, and educational resources AANP offers to nurse practitioners (NPs). Kapu is the associate dean for clinical and community partnerships at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing in Nashville. The f...

Dec 7th, 2022 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. The Leapfrog Group recognized 115 hospitals with its annual top hospital awards. Lawmakers agreed to allow language into the National Defense Authorization Act that would repeal the COVID vaccine mandate for U.S. service members. (The Hill) Booster vaccines performed well against the Omicron BA.5 subvariant in serum tests, but not against BQ.1.1 o...

Dec 1st, 2022 - (Clarifies which nurses the NMC requires sit the test in par 11) British hospitals desperately short of nursing staff Thousands barred over IELTS or OET test failures Limited reforms could help alleviate shortages By Emma Batha LONDON, Nov 30 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As a fluent English speaker, Indian-trained nurse Deepa was surprised to learn she had to sit a language test to practise i...

Nov 23rd, 2022 - After a grueling few years responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, turnover, burnout, and hospital vacancy rates have all increased among nurses. With hospitals drowning under a sea of patients due in part to an earlier than usual surge in respiratory illnesses, a problem compounded by staffing challenges, some experts argue a change is needed. Can virtual nursing help? Virtual nursing has been ar...

Oct 31st, 2022 - Leaders called on the nursing community to leverage their profession's elevated stature -- the result of nearly 3 years of frontline service during the COVID-19 pandemic -- to launch a "moonshot" initiative during the American Academy of Nursing (AAN) Health Policy Conference. "We think that nursing has a unique opportunity and a rapidly closing window ... to accomplish some of the goals that w...

Oct 26th, 2022 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. A former nurse at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina has been charged with murdering multiple patients by administering lethal doses of insulin. (WRAL) Monovalent COVID vaccines produced similar, and in some cases better, neutralizing activity than the new bivalent shots against multiple SARS-CoV-2 strains including...

Oct 12th, 2022 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby, charged with murdering seven babies and attempting to kill 10 others at a hospital in England, was accused in court of injecting newborns with air and feeding them insulin. (Washington Post) A mysterious carbon monoxide leak sent 32 children and daycare employees at a Pennsylvania daycare to local hospitals. (CNN) Kids w...

Sep 16th, 2022 - Healthcare personnel (HCP) were unlikely to be infected with monkeypox from an infected patient, according to research from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Among 313 healthcare workers exposed to 55 patients with confirmed monkeypox, none contracted the virus over 21 days of follow-up, even though many did not wear personal protective equipment (PPE) recommended by the...

Sep 16th, 2022 - Although the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer (CoC) has required routine screening for distress among cancer survivors since 2016, a study published in JCO Oncology Practice found a gap in routine distress screening at CoC-accredited oncology programs. Up to 50% of cancer survivors experience psychosocial distress during their cancer saga. Screening for distress provides an op...

Sep 14th, 2022 - Note that some links may require subscriptions. Atlanta Medical Center employees spoke out after officials announced the hospital's closing, which houses one of the city's two level 1 trauma units: "People are going to die behind this." (Fox 5 Atlanta) A recent death in Los Angeles County has been confirmed as being attributed to monkeypox, the public health department there said. Also in Los A...