Editor's Note Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic are leading a coalition of 60 hospitals and healthcare institutions in a nationwide campaign to encourage adults to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Cleveland Clinic announced in an April 20 news release. The “Get the Vaccine to Save Lives” campaign is designed to reassure…
Editor's Note In this JAMA Insights article, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, conclude that increasing air changes per hour and air filtration are simple concepts that could be used to help reduce within-room, far-field (ie, within-room but beyond 6 feet)…
Editor's Note As of April 19, nearly 40% of US adults have been given at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports. A total of 85,365,180 Americans have been fully vaccinated, which is 25.7% of the total population. The CDC says…
Editor's Note This study led by the sports therapy and research department at Baylor Scott and White Health, Frisco, Texas, finds that cloth face masks led to a 14% reduction in exercise time and 29% decrease in VO2max. In this randomized controlled trial of 31 healthy adults (14 women, 17…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on April 12, identified the recall of Medtronic’s Evera, Viva, Brava, Claria, Amplia, Compia, and Visia implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of an unexpected and rapid…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on April 9, sent a letter to healthcare providers recommending they “transition away from crisis capacity conservation strategies,” including disinfection and reuse of N95 masks. Though the FDA believes there is an adequate supply of N95s now to facilitate this transition, the…
Editor's Note This study from the department of family and sports medicine, Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, Fontana, California, finds that a lack of physical activity was strongly associated with a greater risk of severe COVID-19 and death. This analysis compares outcomes in 48,440 adults diagnosed with COVID-19 between January and…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on April 14, announced that new Heads-Up Reports for first quarter 2021 are now available for all accredited programs. The downloadable report is posted in the “Resources and Tools” section of an organization’s secure Joint Commission Connect extranet site. Each report identifies important topics or…
Editor's Note In this study from the University of Denver and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, respondents to two surveys agreed with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s prioritization framework for COVID-19 vaccination. Of 4,735 respondents (2,730 to a Gallup survey and 2,005 to a COVID Collaborative survey):…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on April 14, issued Sentinel Event Alert 63: Optimizing smart infusion pump safety with DERS [dose error reduction software]. Though smart infusion pumps combine computer technology and drug libraries (stored in DERS) to limit the potential for dosing errors, errors still occur each year. Bypassing…