Infection Control

The Drug Enforcement Administration's approach to buprenorphine regulation is exacerbating the opioid epidemic by unnecessarily discouraging  pharmacies from dispensing the drug, pharmacists and harm reduction experts told NPR on Nov. 8.

In recognition of Clostridioides Difficile Awareness Month, which runs through November, Becker's compiled the latest facts and figures to know about the common healthcare-associated infection. 

Sandusky, Ohio-based Firelands Regional Medical Center has reported a COVID-19 outbreak among 11 staff members, a hospital spokesperson told Becker's on Oct. 28.

The public's support for workplace flu shot mandates has decreased since 2019, according to an Oct. 25 survey from ValuePenguin, a financial research and analysis website. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened infection risks in the hospital setting, causing some facilities to experience outbreaks among patients and staff.

Eleanor Slater Hospital in Burrillville, R.I., has suspended all visitation for 14 days after two staff members tested positive for COVID-19 in the facility's Zambarano Unit, according to WPRI 12.

Experts should use what has been learned about airborne transmission of COVID-19 to change the trajectory of the flu season, wrote Linsey Marr, PhD, Oct. 19 for The New York Times.

Tiny aerosols released when breathing may play a larger role in spreading tuberculosis than coughing, which has been long thought the main route of transmission, The New York Times reports. 

Medical Center Hospital in Odessa, Texas, said it received a flood of threats after a photo of a COVID-19 patient wearing a plastic drape over her head went viral, ABC affiliate KMID reported Oct. 14.

Health officials began notifying people Oct. 8 who may have been exposed to measles at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, after a case of the disease was reported in the facility, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.