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APIC Continues Fight, Urging CMS to Upgrade ICP in Nursing Homes
The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology continues to vigorously argue that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services needs to significantly upgrade infection control in nursing homes.
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Welcome to the Briar Patch: Ethics of Antibiotic Stewardship
Applying ethical concepts to infection control and infectious disease issues, helps infection preventionists and infectious disease physicians reframe problems and develop “moral resilience” to make tough choices, said Olivia Kates, MD, MA, an infectious disease professor and director of research ethics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
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Healing HCWs — Including IPs — Is a National Priority for CDC, NIOSH
Burnout among all stripes of healthcare workers — including infection preventionists — has become a dire situation warranting national action. Accordingly, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have released new research and emphasized available resources to raise awareness for an ambitious “system change” in healthcare delivery.
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CDC Draft Revamps Airborne Precautions, Calls for N95s
New draft patient isolation guidelines recently approved by advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention call for scrapping the “outdated dichotomy” of droplet/airborne precautions in favor of a “continuum” approach to stop transmission through the air.
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OCR Updates HIPAA Assessment Tool
The Office for Civil Rights has updated a self-assessment tool that covered entities can use to determine how well they are complying with HIPAA, and the new version presents an opportunity to see how useful the resource can be.
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What to Expect After a HIPAA Violation
Discovering a HIPAA violation in your organization inevitably causes anxiety about what will follow and how bad the consequences can be. Understanding the process and what to expect can ease some of the worry and help you manage the process to the best possible resolution.
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Plaintiff’s Failure to Follow Expert Disclosure Deadlines Results in Judgment for Defendants
As an initial, medical point, surgeons who often ask physicians in training to close surgical wounds after the procedure should take care to confirm the skill of the trainee and the quality of the result. But if such a procedure (or any procedure) leads to a medical malpractice case, experts are essential.
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Appeals Court Clarifies Standard for Admissibility of Expert Opinion in Medical Malpractice Case
Cases involving expert opinions are sometimes referred to as “a battle of the experts” due to the degree of importance in medical malpractice cases and other matters involving technical, medical, and scientific issues. Judges are the gatekeepers of whether expert opinions are reliable enough to be admitted. As the Georgia Court of Appeals found, judges can sometimes get it wrong.
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EDs Can Make Discharges Against Medical Advice Safer
There is a lack of evidence in the literature regarding effective interventions to prevent discharge against medical advice, according to a review of studies from 1989-2022. Emergency care providers should discuss prescriptions, follow-up appointments, and red-flag signs that indicate patients should return to the ED — just as they would with any patient about to be discharged from the department.
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Perinatal Software Plays a Large Role in OB Safety
The clinical benefits of perinatal software are well known to those who work in labor and delivery, but the risk management potential can be underestimated.