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Under Cover of the Pandemic, a Deadly Fungus Spreads

While eclipsed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the multidrug-resistant fungus Candida auris continues to emerge in the healthcare settings and step-down facilities that can serve as reservoirs.

Clinician: Vaccinate Children to Prevent Long COVID

With public health officials recently recommending vaccinating children as young as 6 months of age for COVID-19, a clinician voiced a passionate plea to immunize this vulnerable population to prevent severe outcomes and death.

A Matter of Semantics: IP Requirements in LTC

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology has been calling for infection preventionists in long-term care for years, but it took a pandemic and a catastrophic death toll among frail residents to finally spur substantive action from the government.

A Shot in the Dark: FDA Adding Omicron to New Fall Vaccine

With the Omicron BA.5 subvariant currently the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the United States, vaccine experts have decided to add some component of the rapidly mutating virus to a new bivalent booster that will be rolled out this fall.

Educators Hope Emergency Nurse Residency Program Can Improve Retention, Prevent Burnout

What is the best way to prepare a new nurse for the challenges and requirements of an ED? This is a question the Emergency Nurses Association has been grappling with in recent years, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic put unprecedented pressure on the profession. The answer might be a comprehensive emergency nurse residency program capable of providing graduates and nurses new to the emergency environment with the judgment, skills, and resilience to launch long and successful careers.

An ED-Friendly Screening Tool to Identify Potentially Violent Patients

Considering violence is a continuing concern in the emergency setting, there is high interest in new mechanisms that can identify potentially violent patients at the front end of their care encounters. This way, safeguards or preventive measures can be activated to keep providers and other patients safe. However, any such tool needs to be brief and easily integrated into the workflow of a busy ED.

Workers Suffering in Central Sterile Supply

Many healthcare workers in central sterile supply are experiencing pain and ergonomic injuries, particularly as the emphasis on meticulous reprocessing of duodenoscopes has increased due to patient infections and deaths, researchers reported.

Failure to Diagnose and Treat Lupus May Support Liability for Psychiatrist

From the legal perspective, this case highlights the importance of experts for medical malpractice litigation and finding the right expert. Since the practice of medicine is a highly skilled and highly specialized field, it is critical for an expert to possess the requisite skill, knowledge, and experience to persuasively comment on pertinent issues.

Debilitating Leg Surgery and Failure to Diagnose Results in $111 Million Verdict

In this matter, the principal issue is the physician’s failure to evaluate, diagnose, and treat the patient’s acute compartment syndrome. A failure to diagnose is an unfortunately common form of medical malpractice.

Prosecution for Excessive Painkillers Tough Case to Make

In a highly publicized case, a critical care doctor was acquitted on 14 counts of second-degree murder. The prosecution alleged the defendant had ordered excessively high fentanyl dosages that caused patient deaths. Prosecutors presented solid evidence and a strong circumstantial case, yet the defense still won. In this case, prosecutors had to prove either the doctor knew the dose of painkillers could kill the patient, or the doctor was aware of the risk, and the risk was unreasonable.