Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, finds that working the night shift or binge drinking doubled the risk of COVID-19 infection in nurses during the pandemic. The analysis included survey answers of 750 nurses who were members of the American Nurses Association. The…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on May 26, released an update on the spread of COVID-19 at its 2023 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference in Atlanta in April. The conference was attended by some 1,800 in-person attendees. A rapid assessment team was gathered to survey…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on May 25, identified the recall by SD BioSensor, Inc, of certain Pilot COVID-19 At-Home Tests as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because the liquid solution in the test kit may be contaminated with bacteria such as Enterococcus,…

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Editor's Note This multi-center study, which is part of the National Institutes of Health’s Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) initiative and led by the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, was conducted to develop a definition of long COVID using self-reported symptoms of 9,764 participants (8,646 infected; 1,118 uninfected) at 85…

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Editor's Note This study from the Mayo Clinic finds that perioperative COVID-19 precautions did not significantly reduce the risk of surgical site infections (SSIs). The analysis included 29,904 patients who had colorectal, hysterectomy, hip, and knee prosthesis procedures at the Mayo Clinic’s multicenter institution between January 1, 2018 and December…

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Editor's Note Estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention find the emerging COVID-19 Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, dubbed Arcturus, is responsible for more than 14% of COVID-19 cases in the US over the past 2 weeks, up from nearly 7% in the prior 2 weeks, according to the May…

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Editor's Note This Italian review and meta-analysis finds that the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against Omicron and Delta variants rapidly wans over time. Of 799 original articles, 149 reviews, and 35 preprints identified, 40 studies were included in the analysis. Among the findings: Vaccine effectiveness of a primary vaccination cycle…

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Editor's Note Though the processes of care for emergency coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery were altered by the COVID-19 pandemic, patient mortality did not change for COVID-19-negative patients; however, COVID-19 positive patients did have significantly higher mortality as well as infectious complications, finds this study presented May 6 at…

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Editor's Note This study by nurse researchers at the University of Florida, Gainesville, examines the factors contributing to burnout and resiliency in new graduate nurses, who are at a high risk of turnover in the first year of employment. A total of 43 new graduate nurses from three hospital campuses…

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Editor's Note The Leapfrog Group, on May 3, announced that its new Hospital Safety Grade shows a significant increase in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, spiking to a 5-year high and remaining high. Their analysis found that the average: Central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) ratio increased 60% Methicillin-resistant…

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