Editor's Note Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, on December 9, declared the state’s nursing shortage amid the COVID-19 pandemic a State of Emergency. The executive order noted that Kentucky is operating 12% to 20% short of the needed nursing volume, and the state is projected to need more than 16,000 additional…

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Editor's Note An ongoing blood shortage has San Diego County hospital officials looking at delaying and cancelling surgical procedures, the December 13 San Diego Union–Tribune reports. The blood supply for Scripps Memorial Hospital Encinitas is 25% to 50% below normal, and UC San Diego Health has been falling below their…

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Editor's Note On December 8, Pfizer said its COVID-19 booster was found to provide significant protection against the Omicron variant in a laboratory study, the December 8 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. Blood samples from those who received three doses of the vaccine saw similar neutralization against the Omicron variant as…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, investigates the effectiveness of a daily attestation system for healthcare workers (HCWs) to help identify COVID-19 cases and prevent spread. The attestation system, “COVID Pass,” comprises symptom-screening, self-referrals to occupational health services, and/or COVID-19 testing. Researchers analyzed…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine find that the initial COVID-19 shutdown from March through April 2020 resulted in a decrease in surgical volume to nearly half of baseline rates. After the reopening, surgical volume rebounded to 2019 levels, and the trend was maintained.…

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Editor's Note New York will require 32 upstate hospitals with limited capacity to halt elective surgical procedures as COVID-19 cases increase in the state, the December 7 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. The state defined limited capacity as less than 10% staffed bed capacity, or as determined by the health department…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago finds that about 3 in 20 healthcare workers (HCWs) surveyed reported being hesitant about getting COVID-19 vaccinations. The study also finds that HCW vaccine decisions were influenced by their colleagues. The survey included 1,974 respondents from three Chicago…

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Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up slightly in November to a seasonally adjusted 16,041,900 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on December 6. That’s up 2,100 since October. Hospital employment, however, was down by 3,900 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for November was 4.2%, for…

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Editor's Note This survey study by the RAND Corporation finds that participants were willing to use telehealth for visits but preferred in-person care, and those who preferred telehealth were more sensitive to out-of-pocket costs. Of 2,080 survey participants, 66.5% preferred at least some telehealth visits in the future, but 53%…

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Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported on December 3 that Medicare telehealth flexibilities led to a 63-fold (ie, from approximately 840,000 to 52.7 million) increase in use from 2019 to 2020. The report also notes that telehealth services were accessed more in urban than…

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