Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized COVID-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months old, which expands eligibility to some 20 million babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, CBS News June 17 reports. After convening on Saturday, June 18, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also…
Editor's Note According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Quality, Certification, and Oversight Reports (QCOR) page, which gives the public access to citation frequency reports, infection control was a top area of focus for CMS surveyors in 2021, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association journal ASC Focus June…
Editor's Note On June 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Health Alert Network health update on guidance to help clinicians evaluate and test patients with relevant history, signs, and symptoms for monkeypox, the American Hospital Association (AHA) June 16 reports. This latest update comes on…
Editor's Note In this French study, two human broadly neutralizing antibodies show promise in providing long-acting immunity against COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients. The antibodies were effective against all COVID-19 variants tested and could be used alone or in an antibody cocktail. Researchers examined 102 spike monoclonal antibodies cloned from IgA…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on June 15 that it is seeking comments on proposed Emergency Management (EM) chapter requirements related to surge management for its hospital and critical access hospital accreditation programs. Since approval of the new, revised EM standards, which are effective July 1, experts in the…
Editor's Note This survey study, led by researchers at Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall in US adults in 2020. In this study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on June 15 that refreshed Accelerate PI™ Dashboard Reports are available for primary stroke centers (PSCs) and comprehensive stroke centers (CSCs) to provide updated performance measurement data on quality measures selected for advanced certification. The reports, which contain data through the fourth quarter of…
Editor's Note On June 14, The Joint Commission issued a new Quick Safety report to provide guidance for managing and storing packaged sterile supplies. Organizations must identify the best location to store supplies so staff can readily access them, and ensure the supplies are being stocked to the most optimal…
Editor's Note This study by researchers from Cornell University finds that nasopharyngeal swabs taken from back inside the nostril were more effective at detecting COVID-10 than saliva tests or swabs just inside the nostril or under the tongue. Comparing different samples from 77 patients, the researchers found that: Nasopharyngeal samples…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 9 updated the Class I recall by Woodside Acquisitions Inc of its Oral Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test Kits and Joysbio SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test Kits (Colloidal Gold) that are not authorized, cleared, or approved by the FDA. The FDA…