Is There No High-Touch Surface in Hospitals Free of Microbial Contamination?
Swabs taken from coffeemakers in German hospital offices and break rooms, and in workers’ homes, tested positive for several important pathogens, researchers found. “Among the eight genera of ‘medically relevant’ Gram-negative species detected, 81% were found in coffeemakers at the hospital,” according to Sarah Victoria Walker, MD, of University Hospital Cologne in Germany, and colleagues. […]
Psych Nurses Sound the Alarm on Patient Violence at Pediatric Hospital
Nurses at Seattle Children’s Hospital demanded the hospital intervene after police were twice called to the Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine Unit (PBMU) over violent incidents during a 2-week period in November, according to the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA). On November 7, police were called to intervene after patients began overturning carts, wielding metal poles […]
Opinion | Is the New Mpox ‘Outbreak’ Deadlier?
Jeremy Faust is editor-in-chief of , an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and a public health researcher. He is author of the Substack column Inside Medicine. Follow An outbreak* of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) has been detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The World Health Organization […]
Opinion | ‘Pharmageddon’: The Pharmacy Labor Crisis
Jeremy Faust is editor-in-chief of , an emergency medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and a public health researcher. He is author of the Substack column Inside Medicine. Follow Emily Hutto is an Associate Video Producer & Editor for MedPage Today. She is based in Manhattan. In this Instagram Live clip, Jeremy […]
Nurse-to-Patient Staffing Ratios Win Some Hard-Fought Ground
For nearly 2 decades, only one state — California — governed the number of patients assigned to a hospital nurse. Recently, Oregon became the second. Advocates of nurse-to-patient ratios are hopeful other states will follow. The primary barrier? Hospitals. Hospital groups and some nurse executives say ratios are a one-size-fits-all response to a dynamic system. […]
Wyoming State Hospital Leadership Changing – Wyoming Department of Health
Wyoming State Hospital Leadership Changing October 6, 2023 An interim administrator is stepping in following the retirement of a longtime leader at the Wyoming State Hospital (WSH) in Evanston, a Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) healthcare facility. Kristi Barker will lead the hospital’s staff on an interim basis as a search for a more permanent […]
Want to ‘Green’ Your Healthcare Facility? It’s OK to Start Small, Experts Say
Want to get your hospital or health system headed in a more environmentally friendly direction? It’s OK to start small, Miranda Skaaning, MBA, said Tuesday at a webinar on decarbonizing healthcare sponsored by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). “If I had to start all over, I would start with energy [conservation],” said Skaaning, director […]
Family Of Henrietta Lacks Settles With Biotech Company Accused Of Profiting From Her Cells
BALTIMORE (AP) — More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells without her knowledge, a lawyer for her descendants said they have reached a settlement with a biotechnology company they sued in 2021, accusing its leaders of reaping billions of dollars from a racist medical system. Tissue taken […]
Should Hospitals Get Paid More Than Physician Practices for the Same Service?
WASHINGTON — Should hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) get paid more by Medicare than independent physician practices for providing the same care? Yes, they absolutely should, panelists said at a briefing here Monday sponsored by the American Hospital Association (AHA). Ashley Thompson, senior vice president for public policy analysis and development at the AHA, outlined several […]
Opinion | I Never Asked Why the Bodies Kept Coming
Brian H. Williams, MD, is a trauma surgeon. Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, first opened as a 14-bed public hospital in 1892, the same year the first immigrants passed through Ellis Island. Grady Hospital is also where I trained to become a trauma surgeon and critical care specialist. It’s hard to imagine a clearer […]