1. Although healthcare workers use gloves to protect both patients and themselves from bacterial contamination, new research suggests gloves themselves may play a significant role in transferring bugs between hospital surfaces. Read more.
2. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are working to identify — and knock out — the genes and proteins that offer rigid protection to bacterial cells walls, keeping antibiotics out. Read more.
3. Consultations via telemedicine are just as effective as traditional medical consults in the treatment of non-acute headaches, according to new research published in Cephalalgia. Read more.
4. Researchers at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago found serious infections are increasing among Americans with psoriasis, causing higher healthcare costs and longer hospitalizations. Read more.
5. Five researchers suggested physician specialty is more closely related to hand hygiene compliance rates than a physician’s age. Read more.
6. Despite previous research that suggested advanced practice clinicians and nurses were more likely to request specialty referrals or order tests than primary care physicians, new research in the Annals of Internal Medicine shows different types of clinicians offer comparable care. Read more.
7. Bites from mosquitoes increase the severity of viral illnesses spread by the insects, according to a study published in the journal Immunity. Read more.
8. A study published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry shows nonmedical use of prescription opioids among U.S. adults more than doubled in a 10-year span. Read more.
9. In April, the colistin-resistant gene mcr-1 was identified in a woman being treated at a military clinic in Pennsylvania, marking the first time the “super” superbug was identified in the U.S. New research suggests one possible carrier of the E. coli strain — seagulls. Read more.
10. A study out of the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne in France shows mobile devices used by hospital workers harbor viral RNA, and a large chunk of healthcare workers don’t wash their hands before or after using their mobile devices. Read more.
