Articles Tagged With: COVID-19
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Vaccines Saved 1 Million Lives in 2021
COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 1 million deaths and 10 million hospitalizations in the United States in 2021, according to a new modeling study by the Commonwealth Fund.
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Sick Healthcare Workers Worsen Shortage, May Spike Healthcare-Associated Infections
The COVID-19 omicron variant, known to cause breakthrough infections in those fully vaccinated and boosted, is infecting and furloughing healthcare workers even as hospitals face a towering wave of incoming patients.
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Unvaccinated Patients Dying from ‘Less Severe’ Omicron
The emerging narrative of the omicron variant of COVID-19 being less severe — and possibly signaling a transition to an endemic phase of the pandemic — is of little solace to patients dying of the virus daily.
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Workplace Violence on the Rise; COVID-19 Partly to Blame
Always a challenging problem, workplace violence in healthcare settings has worsened recently as the many stresses of the pandemic push staff, managers, patients, and family members to the breaking point. Risk managers should review their workplace violence policies to ensure they clearly define workplace violence to include bullying, intimidation, and harassment. -
Contraceptive Visits Declined in the United States During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Using a nationwide sample of insurance claims, researchers found that large declines occurred in contraceptive visits in the first month of the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020 compared to May 2019). Although visit numbers improved over time, they remained below pre-pandemic levels through the end of 2020.
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Missed Nursing Care and Declining Patient Safety
While the immediate effect of the COVID-19 omicron variant on the healthcare workforce is the pressing issue, there were serious concerns about staff shortages and the effect of “missed nursing care” on patients well before the pandemic. Missed nursing care is defined as delaying, omitting, or rationing care by nursing staff. -
Worker Safety Is Critical to Patient Safety
As the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates the national nursing shortage, healthcare workers are finally seen as a valuable commodity that should not be routinely lost to injuries trying to manually lift and mobilize patients. Ultimately, understanding worker safety equals patient safety improves the well-being of an organization. -
Are Boosters Prolonging the Pandemic?
Some people have raised the question of whether booster shots are unethical from a global perspective, and even counterproductive to ending the pandemic because highly mutated variants will continue to arise in unvaccinated patients. -
Winter of Our Discontent: Omicron Variant Pushes Healthcare to Brink
With omicron causing much higher breakthrough infection rates than previous COVID-19 variants, there is concern infected healthcare workers must isolate amid an ongoing nursing shortage. The previous recommendation for 10 days has been changed to seven, and shorter than that under certain conditions. -
The Latest on COVID-19 Vaccination
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an infodemic of misinformation affecting the ability of the general public to make good decisions about vaccination. Vaccine hesitancy is a byproduct of this infodemic. After reviewing the current available data, the vaccines have an excellent risk/benefit ratio.