Editor's Note ECRI has named cybersecurity attacks as the number one health technology hazard for 2022. In its report, ECRI notes that all healthcare organizations are subject to cybersecurity attacks, and that the question is not whether they will be attacked but when. A cybersecurity attack could threaten medical devices…

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Editor's Note This study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finds disparate monoclonal antibody (mAb) treatment of COVID-19 in Hispanic, Black, Asian, and Other race patients, compared to non-Hispanic and White patients. Differences in treatment with dexamethasone and remdesivir were less apparent. Analyzing data from 41 healthcare…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 6 identified the recall by Medtronic of its Stealth Station System with Synergy Cranial and StealthStation S7 Cranial Software as Class I, the most serious. The System aids in precisely locating anatomical structures in neurosurgical procedures. The recall was initiated…

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Editor's Note The Supreme Court on January 13 blocked the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine-or-test requirement for workplaces with 100 or more employees, but the Court is allowing a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at facilities that receive Medicaid and Medicare funds. The order covers more than 17 million healthcare workers…

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Editor's Note Nurses were rated highest for honesty and ethics in a Gallup poll for the 20th consecutive year. A total of 81% of respondents said nurses have high or very high ethics and honesty, and healthcare professionals were three of the four highest rated professions. Three of the top…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia, finds that social and physical features of the environment impact the survival of injured Black men. Analyzing interviews of 43 injured Black men in a northeastern city identified four themes: Challenges to recovery—feeling uprooted because of having…

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Editor's Note The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has honored a request by N95 respirator mask manufacturer, ALG Health (Bryan, Ohio), to rescind all respirator approvals issued to ALG Health, effective immediately. As of January 6, any of the following ALG Health N95 respirators marked with a…

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Editor's Note In this study from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, researchers find a roughly tenfold increase in opioid deaths in adults 55 years and older, driven primarily by overdoses in Black men. Analyzing data on 79,893 individuals aged 55 years and older who died from opioid overdose…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on January 12, announced that revisions to the Rights and Responsibilities of the Individual (RI) chapter addressing the written policy on informed consent and organizational use of images, films, and recording of patients will become effective July 1, 2022. Among the revisions: A new bullet…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that major elective surgery performed 0 to 4 weeks after COVID-19 infection is linked to an increased risk of postoperative complications. Of 5,479 patients analyzed, those who had surgery 0 to 4…

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