Editor's Note Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass Gen) in Boston this summer saw an “unprecedented” surge in demand for mental healthcare services, culminating in a “staggering 880 people on its waitlist for psychiatric services,” The Washington Post October 29 reports. According to the article, Mass Gen had to issue a letter…

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Editor's Note JAMA Network published a research article on October 27 showing the long-term effects of COVID-19 on adults in the US and evaluating vaccine effectiveness for lasting symptoms, Health Leaders Media October 28 reports. The World Health Organization defines symptoms that last for at least 2 months post-infection as…

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Editor's Note Becker’s Hospital Review on October 25 reported that the following five hospitals and healthcare systems have announced plans to raise nurses’ pay. The five are: Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune City, New Jersey—union contract pay increase between 8% and 11% UMass Memorial Health, Worcester, Massachusetts—union contract pay…

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Editor's Note Reducing noise in the OR positively affects children’s postoperative behavior, according to research presented October 24 at the Anesthesiology 2022 annual meeting in New Orleans. The study, led by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, included 64 preschool children (ages 4 to 5 years old) having general…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 26 announced that it has created a Health Care Equity Resource Center to help organizations monitor their progress toward healthcare equity. New healthcare equity accreditation requirements, which will go into effect January 2023, recognize that organizations need established leaders as well as standardized…

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Editor's Note This Norwegian study finds a lower risk of colorectal cancer at 10 years in those who had screening colonoscopy, compared to those with no screening. Of 84,585 participants, 28,220 were invited to have a single screening colonoscopy (11,843 underwent screening), and 56,365 were in the usual care group.…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on October 26 that it will resume intracycle calls for Disease-Specific Care (DSC) and Health Care Staffing Services (HCSS) certification programs, starting January 1, 2023. These calls, which were suspended in 2021 because of COVID-19, require programs to update their intracycle tabs in the…

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Editor's Note On October 25, Health Affairs reported that healthcare systems continue to face challenges in a post-pandemic environment but are likely to have the worst financial year in decades, according to Becker’s Hospital CFO Report October 26. US hospitals saw fluctuations in operating margins in 2022 but are still…

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Editor's Note In order to address the current (and future) nursing shortage, a “Legacy Think Tank” has been established for the purpose of generating viable options to engage retired nurses to play a role in alleviating this shortage. Joanne Oliver, BSN, RN, CNOR, and her team are asking for any…

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Editor's Note This study led by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine finds that Black veterans hospitalized with COVID-19 were less likely to be treated with evidence-based treatments than White patients. A total of 43,222 veterans (12,135 Black and 31,087 White) hospitalized with COVID-19 in 130 Veterans Affairs Medical…

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