Editor's Note The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing (JHSON) on October 12 announced that it has created a new Policy Honors Program for nursing students to gain experience and foundational skills in policy analysis and advocacy. The two-semester program will include discussion-based seminars, faculty mentoring sessions, a policy project, and…
Editor's Note In this study from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, researchers find that Black Medicare patients were less likely to receive surgical consultations than White Medicare patients after being admitted from the emergency department (ED) with an emergency general surgery condition. Of 1,686,940 Medicare patients included in the analysis,…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on October 12 that several revisions that have been made to the Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) chapters for certain accreditation programs, including Hospital, Critical Access Hospital, Ambulatory Health Care, and Office-Based Surgery, will take effect January 1, 2023. The changes…
Editor's Note On October 12, The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development announced in a press release that they will award $110 million in grants to improve healthcare facilities in rural areas. This Emergency Rural Health Care Grants Program is made available through the Biden-Harris Administration’s American Rescue Plan…
Editor's Note On October 12, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines, Bivalent, to authorize their use as a single booster dose in younger groups, Health Purchasing News October 12 reports. The Moderna vaccine is now authorized for…
Editor's Note This national survey study led by researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, and Middlesex Community College, Middletown, Connecticut, finds that nearly half of US adults surveyed reported misrepresentation of and nonadherence to COVID-19 public health measures. Among the survey findings: Of 1,733…
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) on October 11 issued comments on a European study examining colonoscopies that was published October 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study, which looked at colonoscopies in Sweden, Poland, Norway, and the Netherlands, seemed to question the effectiveness of…
Editor’s Note A report published in Health Affairs on October 6 claimed that up to 30% of healthcare spending is used for administrative purposes, and more than half of that is not significantly contributing to health outcomes, Becker’s Hospital Review October 10 reports. In 2019, Health Affairs launched the Council…
Editor's Note This study by the Global Burden of Disease Long COVID Collaborators estimates that the proportion of patients with at least one of three long-COVID-19 symptoms (persistent fatigue with bodily pain or mood swings, cognitive problems, or ongoing respiratory problems) 3 months after COVID-19 infection is 6.2%. Analyzing 54…
Editor's Note In response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) relaxation of recommendations for universal healthcare personnel masking, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) on October 3 strongly urged its 15,000 members to continue masking in patient care areas. Requiring masks for anyone…