Patient Safety & Outcomes

Fully vaccinated patients who undergo surgery soon after COVID-19 don't have an elevated risk of post-surgery complications compared to surgery patients with no COVID-19 history, according to a study published July 15 in Annals of Surgery. 

During the nation's first COVID-19 wave in spring 2020, hospitals with more COVID-19 patients reported higher inpatient mortality rates after surgery, according to a study published July 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

COVID-19 reinfections are becoming more common in the U.S., but they are not happening more quickly, according to data from Helix, a lab that works with the CDC on viral surveillance. 

Fertility patients are beginning to move their frozen embryos to states that protect abortion access out of fears that the Supreme Court's June 24 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will leave them without choices, The 19th reported July 14.

A man died after shooting himself in the head at South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City on July 12, according to the Tampa Bay Times. 

The Joint Commission issued new safety guidance for palliative care to seriously ill patients visiting the emergency department. 

Rates of in-hospital adverse events fell significantly in the 10 years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a federal study published July 12 in JAMA.

The American Hospital Association has selected Cleveland-based University Hospitals as the 2022 recipient of its Quest for Quality Prize, which recognizes leadership efforts and innovation to improve quality and advance health in communities. 

Ensuring bedridden hospital patients have their teeth brushed properly could prevent a significant portion of non-ventilator hospital-acquired pneumonia, or NVHAP, cases, Kaiser Health News reported July 11. 

A Texas hospital employee found an elderly couple shot to death in a suspected murder-suicide on the morning of July 7, accrding to KSAT.