Editor's Note ECRI and its affiliate, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), on November 10, announced that Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health had won their 2021 Safety Excellence Award. Jefferson Health’s award-winning initiative redirected their safety approach from departmental/project-based to a system-wide integrated and coordinated safety management system across 18 hospitals.…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, find that most readmissions and emergency department (ED) visits (ie, revisits) of COVID-19 patients following initial admission were not preventable. Of 576 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 76 resulted in a 30-day revisit (13.2%)—21 ED visits…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on November 9, identified the recall by Aligned Medical Solutions of its custom convenience kits as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the potential for the plunger in Cardinal Health's Monoject Flush Prefilled Syringe (0.9% sodium chloride),…

Read More

Editor's Note Please participate in an important nationwide perioperative survey on surgical smoke evacuation. The purpose of the research led by Brenda Ulmer MN, RN, CNOR, is to determine evacuation behaviors in hospitals before COVID-19, and then note changes as the virus continued to spread in the US. Ulmer and…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on November 10, released a new Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 64: “Addressing healthcare disparities by improving quality and safety.” The Alert summarizes strategies for healthcare and human services organizations as they begin to address healthcare disparities, and it provides examples of successful initiatives already underway.…

Read More

Editor's Note Every year, Perioperative Nurses Week focuses attention on the work of more than 528,000 nurses who advocate for surgical patients. During the week, perioperative nurses are honored by colleagues and communities, highlighting the ways nurses are working to improve patient safety−before, during, and after surgery−in hospitals, ambulatory surgery…

Read More

Editor's Note This study, led by researchers at the University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, and the VA Boston Healthcare System, finds no difference in COVID-19 rates between counties where school was held in-person and those that had virtual school, except in the South. Researchers analyzed data from 895…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on November 2, recommended broad use of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. Distribution of the vaccine to clinics, children’s hospitals, and pediatricians’ offices across the country have started, with plans to scale up to full…

Read More

Editor's Note This study from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, finds that healthcare workers (HCWs) with prior COVID-19 infection followed by 2 doses of an mRNA vaccine developed higher spike antibody measurements than HCWs with vaccination alone. Of 1,960 HCWs analyzed, 73 (3.7%) had evidence of previous COVID-19 infection. Among those,…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), on Novermber 4, released regulations that will require Medicare-participating providers to ensure their staff members are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. CMS says: “Facilities covered by this regulation must establish a policy ensuring all eligible staff have received the first dose…

Read More