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A mid concerns about the impact of fatigue on medical errors, the governing body of medical education sought to make sure the least experienced medical residents get the most sleep. But a new survey indicates that other residents and program supervisors believe the rules are just creating problems for other residents without improving medical education.
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An emerging SARS-like novel coronavirus may pose a particular threat for hospital outbreaks that could spread infections to both patients and health care workers.
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Half of all health care workers who work the night shift get less than six hours of sleep a day. They drink caffeine to stay alert, but many still struggle to keep from involuntarily dozing. And one in four night shift nurses resort to staying awake for at least 24 hours to adjust to changing schedules.
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A shortage of a major TB skin-testing product forced some hospitals to alter their health care worker screening programs, but it also demonstrated the ability of employee health departments to adapt to change circumstances.
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The budget impasse plaguing Washington may actually save the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) from some deep cuts.
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The message from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on testing for hepatitis C is unequivocal. In the words of director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH: Baby boomers may not remember everything we did in the 60s or 70s, but our liver does.
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When two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, hospital clinicians had one thought: I have to get to work. A surgeon who had just run 26 miles came into Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and prepared to operate. Nurses and doctors treating the wounded wondered about their own family and friends.
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The best example in a single disease may be tuberculosis, which has resurged and been vanquished again so many times it inspired the term the U-shaped curve of concern.
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Infection preventionists have generally weathered the Great Recession in good shape, though the field remains in flux as old school IPs leave and a new wave of IPs from more diverse backgrounds enter the field.
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Already finalizing an infection control survey for hospitals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded the scope of the program to assess compliance with quality improvement and discharge planning during the same visit.
