Patient Safety & Outcomes

As the healthcare industry enters the pandemic's third year, many leaders are working to reinvigorate staff and patient safety efforts. 

A team at Cleveland Clinic successfully removed a rare malignant tumor from the heart of a 26-week-old fetus. It's the second time such a case resulted in continued pregnancy and successful delivery. 

Some physicians who work with long COVID-19 patients — those who experience persistent or new symptoms months after their initial bout with the virus — are seeing patients with tremors and vibrating sensations, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 21. 

Healthcare leaders are bringing renewed attention to patient safety issues that have been overshadowed by another year of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

From Sept. 17-24, nine patients in Arkansas had mucormycosis, a sometimes fatal fungal infection, following a COVID-19 diagnosis, the CDC reported Dec. 16.

From June to September 2021, fully vaccinated people with breakthrough COVID-19 accounted for 15 percent of all U.S. COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to data from Peterson's and Kaiser Family Foundation's Health System Tracker. 

The four most common symptoms of the omicron variant are cough, fatigue, congestion and runny nose, according to a CDC analysis of the first 43 cases investigated in the U.S. 

After the delta variant fueled a surge in COVID-19 infections this summer, many physicians were bracing for a spike in cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C. However, unlike after past surges, no such spike has occurred, NBC…

The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation shared guidance for clinicians treating patients experiencing lingering breathing discomfort or cognitive symptoms after recovering from COVID-19, a condition known as long COVID-19. 

Preliminary real-world data from South Africa suggests the omicron variant is more resistant to Pfizer's vaccine but causes less severe infections, The Washington Post reported Dec. 14.