Performance Improvement Editor's Note The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a surge in antimicrobial resistance in US hospitals, reversing years of progress, according to a new analysis released July 12 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During the first year of the pandemic, antimicrobial-resistant infections and deaths increased in hospitals…
Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, finds that methylene blue with light (MBL) photochemical treatment can be used to decontaminate personal protective equipment (PPE) contaminated with COVID-19. MBL robustly and consistently inactivated three coronaviruses, including COVID-19, with 99.8% to >99.9% virus inactivation across…
Editor's Note This systematic review and meta-analysis from Stony Brook Cancer Center, Stony Brook University, New York City, and the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, finds that COVID-19 pandemic measures were associated with widely reduced cancer screening services. Between January and October 2020, there was an overall decrease of: -46.7%…
Editor's Note Overall healthcare employment in the US was up in June to a seasonally adjusted 16,314,900 workers, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on July 8. That’s up 56,700 since May. Hospital employment also was up by 20,500 jobs. The overall unemployment rate for June remained at 3.6%, for…
Editor's Note This study by researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park, and Boston University finds that maternal deaths increased 33.3% after March 2020, which corresponds with the onset of COVID-19. This is higher than the 22% overall excess death estimate associated with the pandemic. Among the findings: 1,588…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee on June 28 recommended updating the composition of COVID-19 booster vaccines to target the Omicron variant. The Committee noted that booster doses consisting of an Omicron monovalent or bivalent vaccine could improve neutralizing antibody responses…
Editor's Note Researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, gathered an interdisciplinary team to organize a safe and time efficient precleaning workflow for their fast-paced GI clinic that decreased time spent precleaning by 50%. The researchers identified inadequate precleaning processes, including staff who did not follow…
Editor's Note In this study from the University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, researchers developed a machine learning model that improved the ability to predict surgery end times and PACU discharge at a range of start times in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC). Of 13,447 surgical procedures analyzed, the…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 28 identified the recall by GE Healthcare of its CARESCAPE R860 Ventilator as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because the ventilator backup batteries, including replacement backup batteries, may run out before they are expected to do…
Editor's Note This study by researchers from the Arizona Department of Health finds that healthcare associated infections (HAIs) significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). From 2016 through 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Arizona acute care hospitals reported that HAIs decreased significantly: CLABSIs decreased 32%.…
