Editor's Note On March 1, the American Hospital Association (AHA) submitted a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee urging Congress to consider and address the challenges the healthcare workforce is currently facing. As healthcare workers enter the third year of the pandemic, AHA likened current challenges to “a…

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Editor's Note Three American hospitals top Newsweek’s annual World’s Best Hospitals list, published on March 2. These hospitals have learned to adapt to new and existing challenges quickly during medicine's 2-year war against COVID-19, Newsweek says. The top three are: Mayo Clinic-Rochester, Rochester, Minnesota Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio Massachusetts General…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, finds that patient treatment at hospitals dedicated to COVID-19 care was associated with lower in-hospital mortality. Of 5,504 patients with COVID-19 analyzed, 2,077 were treated at one of two COVID-19 dedicated hospitals, and 3,427 were treated at other…

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Editor's Note The International Council of Nurses (ICN) and its more than 130 members around the world, on February 25, issued a statement saying they stand in solidarity with the people, nurses, and healthcare workers caught up in the conflict in Ukraine. In the statement, former American Nurses Association president…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of California, Los Angeles, finds that Blacks had the largest percentage increase in overdose mortality rates in 2020, overtaking the rates among Whites for the first time since 1999. Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Center for…

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Editor's Note OR Manager recently reported on the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations on when masks should be worn by the public. According to the new guidelines, the CDC now recommends the general public wear masks only in communities with a "high" level of COVID-19, which…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers at School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison, describes the development of a fatigue risk management tool that can be used by nurses to pursue balance between work demands and capacity to meet those demands. Interviews with 21 nurses identified four design goals for the…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on February 25, issued new recommendations on when masks should be worn by the public. Under the new guidelines: In communities with “low” or “medium” levels of COVID-19, masks are not recommended for the general public, which is now more…

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Editor's Note This study led by the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, finds substantial changes in the healthcare workforce during years 2020 and 2021 of the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the findings: Healthcare employment levels fell from 22.2 million in 2019 to 21.1 million in 2020 (a 5.2% decline), and then…

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Editor's Note This study by Belgium researchers finds that healthcare workers’ (HCWs') fear of COVID-19 and reluctance to work significantly increased between the first phase of the study in May 2020 and the second phase in October 2020. Of 2,661 HCWs analyzed in phase 1 and 2,336 HCWs in phase…

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