Editor's Note The Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) on August 11 announced the publication of its first set of safe practice guidelines to support perioperative medication safety in hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and other procedural locations. The new guidelines: Address best practices related to labeling and storage of perioperative…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, finds that more than half of adults with recent Omicron infection analyzed were unaware of their infectious status. Of 210 adult employees or patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with serological evidence of recent Omicron variant infection: 92…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 17 announced that refreshed Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports are now available for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRF), inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPF), and long-term acute care hospitals (LTCH) to provide data on a select subset of quality measures. The IPF reports contain data through the…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, finds that patients having major surgical procedures within 8 weeks of a COVID-19 infection have a substantially higher postoperative 90-day mortality, regardless of symptoms. Analyzing data on 938 COVID-19 positive patient cases…

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Editor's Note Some 80% of healthcare workers (HCWs) at Sonoma Valley Hospital, Sonoma, California, exposed to COVID-19  or showing symptoms, tested positive the last 2 weeks of  July, the August 15 Sonoma Index-Tribune reports. A total of 97% of HCWs are fully vaccinated, and the remaining 3% have valid exemptions.…

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Editor's Note This study from Switzerland finds that COVID-19 positivity in healthcare workers (HCWs) was associated with cumulative patient exposure, which could be modulated with the use of respirator masks. Of 2,919 HCWs included in the study, 749 were infected with COVID-19. Positivity was 13% in HCWs without patient exposure.…

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Editor's Note  On Friday, August 12, the New York State Department of Health and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene announced that polio (poliomyelitis) was detected in local wastewater, Becker’s Hospital Review August 15 reports. "For every one case of paralytic polio identified, hundreds more may…

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Editor's Note This retrospective cohort study led by researchers at Ascension Health, St Louis, finds that COVID-19 infection is a risk factor for adverse peripartum maternal outcomes. Researchers evaluated the association of COVID-19 with severe maternal morbidities in patients delivering during four pandemic periods characterized by predominant variants—March-December 2020 (wild…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 11 updated its guidelines for COVID-19. The new recommendations focus on helping people better understand their risks, how to protect themselves and others, what actions to take if exposed, and what actions to take if they test positive…

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Editor's Note Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, have developed a simple new paper test that can measure the level of neutralizing antibodies in a blood sample. Using the same type of lateral flow technology that rapid antigen tests use, the new test is designed so that different…

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