Editor's Note As of March 12, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that the Omicron BA.2 subvariant was responsible for 23.1% of all COVID-19 cases in the US, the March 15 Reuters reports. The subvariant is behind about 39% of cases in the Northeast, New York, and…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on March 11, designated the recall by Baxter of its SIGMA Spectrum Infusion Pumps with Master Drug Library (Version 8) and Spectrum IQ Infusion Systems with Dose IQ Safety Software (Version 9) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated…

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Editor's Note On March 15, The Joint Commission released a statement expressing support for Ukraine, saying the enterprise “is devastated by the horror” of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. According to the statement, the World Health Organization “has identified at least 31 attacks on Ukrainian healthcare organizations” as of March 13, meaning…

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Editor's Note A survey from the American Nurses Foundation and marketing firm Joslin Insight, published on March 1, shows that many Generation Z and Millennial nurses are struggling with their mental health at work, and that about 60% say they will leave or are considering leaving their positions, Becker’s Hospital…

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Editor's Note At the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), UAMS Health, Little Rock, Arkansas, a half-day retreat for frontline nurses got instituted by Trenda Ray, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, UAMS Health's chief nursing officer and associate vice chancellor for patient care services, Health Leaders March 14 reports. The retreat…

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Editor's Note The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), on March 7, announced a short-term increase in highly focused inspections directed at hospitals and skilled nursing care facilities that care for COVID-19 patients. OSHA’s goal is to ensure continued mitigation efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 and future variants…

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Editor's Note Pleas by some states to be kind to healthcare workers (HCWs), who are exhausted and burned out from caring for COVID-19 patients, have expanded to bills that would offer protection for HCWs against physical or verbal assault as well as other forms of abuse like doxxing, the March…

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Editor's Note This study from the UK finds that primary immunization with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine provided limited protection against the Omicron variant. A booster substantially increased protection, but that waned over time. Included in the analysis are 886,774 Omicron variant infected patients, 204,154 Delta variant infected patients, and…

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Editor's Note According to a March 4 notice filed by NYC Test & Trace Corps, New York City's (NYC’s) initiative for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing, the city is ending universal contact tracing by the end of April, Becker’s Hospital Review March 10 reported. This means that NYC Health +…

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Editor's Note According to ASC Focus, the Ambulatory Surgery Center Association journal, new research was recently published that supports older data pointing to the cost savings of orthopedic procedures being done in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) compared to hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs). Past research cited by ASC Focus included an…

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