CDC recommends RSV immunization for infants to address leading cause of infant hospitalization

Pfizer is asking customers to exhaust other supply sources before ordering 12 sterile injectable drugs from the company as it continues to assess its ability to produce the drugs following a tornado that severely damaged one of its manufacturing plants in North Carolina.

The treatment reduces the risk of infant hospitalizations and infant healthcare visits for RSV by 80%, according to the CDC.

More than 80% of hospitals recently surveyed by the American Hospital Association are collecting data on social determinants of health (SDOH), many through their EHR platform and health information exchanges. Yet only half of those hospitals are collecting data regularly.

Healthcare facilities have made huge strides in improving infection prevention and control, yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that, on any given day, one in 31 hospital patients may acquire a healthcare-associated infection (HAI).

So, jumping back a little in time, I want to loop back to the physical environment “problem list” identified in CMS’ most recent assessment of the survey effectiveness of the various accreditation organizations (AOs) just to, if you will, tie a bow around specific physical environment items identified as being the most problematic.

The following is part two of our interview with Maya Bizri, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist and consultation-liaison psychiatrist looking for solutions to provide support for healthcare providers working in low-resource settings or in global disaster settings. She’s worked in conflict and disaster zones in Lebanon and Ukraine and piloted a project in Ukraine targeting the mental well-being of healthcare workers and how to better equip them to deliver trauma-informed care.

CMS is worried that hospitals have too much advance notice of when surveyors will be on the premises to audit patient safety practices and identify problems, including those found while investigating patient complaints.

How ready are you and your staff for your next triennial survey? Here is a quick quiz to check on some common issues.

And you might want to share it with your staff. Hospitals have found that simple quizzes or puzzles can be a fun and quick way to remind staff of basics in patient safety and save a deficiency on survey.

Safety audits are performed in laboratories across the world, but in some of these locations the environment remains very unsafe and performing audits hasn’t made any difference. Mistakes can be made when performing a laboratory audit, and those errors can lead to dangerous situations. While all audit errors need attention, there are three that can cause the most damage to your lab and its safety culture.