Editor's Note A recent study conducted at a tertiary care hospital in India showed concurrent COVID-19 infection on patients undergoing emergency surgery resulted in notably longer hospital stays and higher rates of postoperative complications. Published September 8 in Cureus, the retrospective cohort study analyzed data from 48 COVID-19-positive patients and…

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Editor's Note Cyberattacks in August 2024 are the latest examples of a specific Iranian group intensifying efforts against US organizations since 2017, Healthcare IT News reported September 3. Citing an advisory issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the Department of Defense…

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Editor's Note The Red Cross is reporting a 25-percent drop in its national blood inventory due to hot weather a month after the American Hospital Association (AHA) warned about the impact of cyberattacks on critical supplies at hospitals. According to an August 6 report in The Hill, heat-related challenges have…

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Editor's Note Advocates of legislation to make physically assaulting healthcare workers a federal crime spoke out at a recent press conference hosted by the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP), MedPage Today reported August 2. The Safety From Violence for Healthcare Employees Act (SAVE…

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Editor's Note Hospitals and health systems have largely returned to normal operations in the wake of a global IT outage caused by a faulty update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, according to a July 29 article in Becker’s Health IT. The outage, which began July 18, resulted in many health systems'…

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Editor's Note Many youths continue to take opioids months after undergoing surgery, according to a recent multi-institutional study published in JAMA Network. Medical Xpress covered the news July 11. Conducted by researchers from CHOP, Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford Medicine, the study found 1 in 6 youths…

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Editor's Note North Korean hackers targeted U.S. hospitals and healthcare systems with ransomware to fund a covert information exfiltration campaign against American military and scientific entities, according to a July 25 report from CBS News. The first attack was a May 2021 ransomware infiltration of a hospital in Kansas. The…

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Editor's Note New findings highlight an urgent need to improve preventive measures against animal-borne diseases jumping to humans and potentially causing another global pandemic, US Today reported on July 21. The article details a study from  Harvard Law School and New York University that examined animal-human interactions in 15 countries,…

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Editor's Note A global Microsoft server outage disrupting critical services from airline operations to banking is also having a significant impact on healthcare, according to multiple news reports. On example is a Friday, July 19 report from CBS News reporting that Mass General Brigham, the largest health care system in…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission’s new Workforce Safety and Well-Being Resource Center is designed to support healthcare organizations in addressing challenges with workplace violence, burnout, and exposure to hazards. Workplace violence is a growing issue in healthcare, negatively affecting morale, staff turnover, productivity, and patient care, according to the July…

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