In an case that sets an ominous tone for the resurging pandemic, a healthy 51-year-old oncology nurse who worked in Carmichael, CA, recently died of a coinfection with H1N1 influenza A and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. (MRSA).
A New York mandate that health care workers receive seasonal flu shots may drive nurses from the profession even as that state faces a nursing shortage, said Eileen Avery, MS, RN, associate director of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA).
Enforcement of a controversial regulation mandating flu shots for New York health care workers appears to fall primarily to hospitals and other health care facilities.
Can strong hospital leadership supporting flu immunization be as successful and less divisive as mandating the seasonal shots?
The Joint Commission's 2009 patient safety goal regarding multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) includes the following key provisions and deadlines:
In a likely prelude to a battle royal over mandating a swine flu vaccine, the New York State Health Department overrode nursing union protests recently in enacting an emergency regulation requiring seasonal flu shots for frontline health care workers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to issue a ruling by Oct. 1 on whether health care workers should wear surgical masks or N95 respirators when treating patients infected with H1N1 influenza A.
Pregnant women appear to be particularly vulnerable to H1N1 influenza A virus and will be the top priority to receive a vaccine expected to be available this fall against the pandemic strain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently recommended.
(Editor's note: Carol LaChance, RN, infection preventionist at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, ME, has been in the field three years. With a background of 24 years in nursing, she has found the switch to an IP position difficult but empowering. We recently asked her five key questions.)
