Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in August to a seasonally adjusted 16,453,900 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on September 2. That’s up 48,200 since July. Hospital employment also was up by 14,700 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for August was 3.7%, for a…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 31 identified the recall by Integra of its CereLink ICP Monitor as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because the device may display incorrect values for a patient’s intracranial pressure (ICP) and display out-of-range pressure readings. If…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized updated versions of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines with the goal of protecting against the recent Omicron variant, NPR August 31 reports. The updated booster, called a bivalent vaccine, offers protection from both the original strain of COVID-19 and the most…

Read More

Editor's Note In this recent study, titled “A simple surgical mask modification to pass N95 respirator-equivalent fit testing standards during the COVID-19 pandemic” and published by PLOS ONE on August 24, the use of rubber bands worn over standard 3-layer surgical masks is shown to improve the mask’s protective seal…

Read More

Editor's Note This study by researchers at UC San Francisco finds that step counts—a measure of physical activity—were markedly lower early in the COVID-19 pandemic compared to prepandemic, and they remain lower in the 2 years following the onset of the pandemic. The researchers used data collected from the Azumio…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 29 identified the recall by Hamilton Medical AG of its Hamilton-C6 Intensive Care Ventilator as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of potential water ingress between the indicator board and the ventilator’s main board that may…

Read More

Editor's Note This study from Saudi Arabia finds that nurses working in the intensive care unit (ICU) had a significantly higher risk of COVID-19 infection. A total of 1,594 healthcare workers (HCWs) with COVID-19 infections were analyzed—103 working in the ICU and 1,491 working in non-ICU locations. The ICU had…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August  31 announced a new patient safety campaign to help patients understand telehealth visits, titled: “Speak Up At Your Telehealth Visit.” Educational resources for the Speak Up program include: an infographic poster/flyer an animated video a distribution guide on how to provide the materials…

Read More

Editor's Note In this National Hospital Flash Report, published in August 2022 by healthcare consulting company Kaufman, Hall and Associates, LLC, experts say “that 2022 is shaping up to be the worst year financially for US hospitals and health systems since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Becker’s Hospital CFO…

Read More

Editor's Note This phase 3, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, finds that none of three medications evaluated—metformin, ivermectin, or fluvoxamine—prevented the occurrence of a primary event—hypoxemia, an emergency department (ED) visit, hospitalization, or death—associated with COVID-19. Of 1,323 patients analyzed, a primary…

Read More