Patient Safety & Outcomes

The number of serious patient safety incidents reported to The Joint Commission jumped in 2021, reaching the highest annual level seen since the accrediting body started publicly reporting them in 2007, according to a report shared with Becker's Feb. 22. 

As social determinants of health become more widely recognized for their effects on health outcomes, the policies that create such determinants are also important to understand, the American Medical Association reported Feb. 21. 

Disability Rights Rhode Island is alleging patient abuse at Cranston, R.I.-based Eleanor Slater Hospital after a video showed 12 correctional officers conducting a contraband search and stepping over a patient, according to a Feb. 19 report by USA Today.

People who had COVID-19 were 39 percent more likely to be diagnosed with depression in the months after their infection compared to those without COVID-19, according to a study of nearly 154,000 COVID-19 patients at the Veterans Health Administration. 

In 2021, a record-setting number of organ transplants were performed in the U.S., with more than 40,000 transplants performed annually for the first time in the nation's history, according to preliminary data from the United Network for Organ Sharing. 

A U.S. woman of mixed race has become the third person in the world believed to be cured of HIV, scientists said Feb. 15, according to The New York Times.

Infants born to mothers vaccinated for COVID-19 while pregnant were less likely to be hospitalized for the virus within the first six months of life, a new CDC study found. A separate report found vaccination lowers the risk of becoming…

Recent studies have identified changes to a nerve that may explain why some people suffer from long COVID-19, while separate findings may point to a potential treatment option.

Intermountain Healthcare is rolling out a program to improve long-term care for patients with long COVID-19, the Salt Lake City-based health system said Feb. 14.

Cleveland Clinic performed 1,039 organ transplants in 2021, up 18 percent from 2020, and a record 210 liver transplants, it said Feb. 14.