Of 100 nurses surveyed—50 nurse leaders and 50 frontline nurses—in February, 86% said they leave procedures to hunt for supplies at least occasionally, according to the report. Some 25% said they don’t always check product expiration or recall information, which increases risk of patient safety issues; 48% attributed this to lack of time.

The U.S. has wrestled with the demons of the opioid epidemic for decades, and even a global pandemic can’t stop that. But so much has changed during the past year in terms of healthcare. The use of opioids, both appropriate and inappropriate, has appeared to change too, sometimes in surprising ways.

We know that overdoses quickened their pace in 2020, according to the CDC. The CDC identified over 81,000 drug overdoses in the 12 months ending in May 2020, the highest number ever in a 12-month period. And while those numbers were increasing prior to COVID-19, the latest data indicate the numbers accelerated further during the pandemic. According to the CDC:

Be aware that as COVID-19 cases decline and vaccination rates climb, the emergency waivers and measures approved to get through the public health emergency will be changing.

Update policies and check with your information technology (IT) team to ensure you are meeting CMS requirements for electronic medical record (EMR) interoperability that were outlined in two final rules issued last year, including one that updated hospital Conditions of Participation (CoP) for medical record services related to discharging patients.

The Center has been working on sepsis care improvement since 2012. To that end, it’s created a Reducing Sepsis Mortality Targeted Solutions Tool (TST) that makes customized recommendations for healthcare facilities. The tool is free to Joint Commission-accredited customers.  Barnes was on the team that developed the tool after leading two cohorts of five hospitals each through sepsis quality improvement  projects.