More than 235 organizations, including the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the American Nurses Association, expressed support for the Improving Care and Access to Nurses Act in a June 6 letter to Congress.

More than 70 employees at Kaiser Zion Medical Center in San Diego have signed a petition for the facility to suspend surgeries over concerns of potential contamination of surgical trays, according to a June 6 report from The San Diego Union Tribune. 

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation  (AAMI) has announced Ralph Basile as this year's recipient of the Spirit of AAMI Award. 

Minneapolis-based M Health Fairview is implementing a tool from I-PASS Patient Safety Institute to reduce communication breakdowns during patient handoffs. 

Hospitals working to bolster their burned out and dwindling nursing staffs by hiring  internationally trained nurses were stopped in their tracks when the State Department issued a red light on green cards in April. 

Healthgrades has partnered with a nonprofit organization to create a new LGBTQ+ Affirming Care Designation on its website. 

COVID-19 hospitalizations hit a record low at the end of May — this, after a hectic winter and spring that brought a surge in respiratory syncytial virus, flu and invasive strep. 

Cases of the bacteria that causes brain-eating amoeba infections, Naegleria fowleri, are continuing to increase in several U.S. states. Now, Indiana is the most recent place to report new infections, WBIW radio reported June 6. 

Amber Egyud, DNP, RN, has a unique view of healthcare as both chief nursing officer and chief operating officer of Chesapeake (Va.) Regional Healthcare. 

Capt. Janice Lufkin, RN, a retired decorated Navy nurse and former head nurse of the cardiac care unit at Philadelphia-based Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, died May 13 of heart failure, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported June 5.

Lisa Surratt, RN, a nurse in the intensive care unit at Quincy, Ill.-based Blessing Hospital, retired June 1 after 44 years.

Patient safety advocates are urging for the creation of a "National Patient Safety Board" for the healthcare industry to better learn from and prevent medical errors, but they fear current proposals would not give such a board sufficient oversight, according to a June 5 report from KFF Health News. 

Here are 62 organizations launching or expanding nursing programs:

Newly released data from the CDC shows more than 9 million U.S. adults who were taking at least one prescription medication in 2021 reported skipping doses, taking smaller doses or delaying refills because of cost. 

A nurse couple saved a man whose heart stopped after suffering "low oxygen levels" in the middle of a flight to Baltimore, The Washington Post reported June 2.

Ypsilanti, Mich.-based Trinity Health Ann Arbor hosted a dedication ceremony May 19 for the Lavone A. "Shorty" Witting, RN, Perinatal Wellness Center, named for one of its nurses.

In the years leading up to the unexpected events of March 2020, U.S. life expectancy was declining, according to a June 1 report published in the American Journal of Public Health. 

A tool designed to collect pre-appointment health outcome information from Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt University Medical Center patients has just reached its millionth report after launching in 2019.

Ultrasound is one of the most common procedures in the United States, with more than 140 million ultrasound procedures performed every year.1 These procedures are highly variable, spanning many areas of medicine and involving different techniques, clinical environments or patient characteristics. Given this variability, appropriate infection control is essential to lower the risk of infection transmission. In 2020, drug-resistant pathogens caused a 15% increase in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in the United States and a similar increase in patient deaths.2 It is now estimated that 1 in 31 U.S. hospital patients has at least one HAI.3 Proper reprocessing of medical devices, including ultrasound probes, is one of the key strategies required to break the chain of infection transmission and protect patients.

Nursing's economic value and the reimbursement of it has been neglected for decades, the American Nurses Association argues, and now it is pushing for key changes to restore how the profession is valued.