Hospital Medicine News

SEATTLE — Veterans Affairs facilities that opted not to suspend active surveillance and contact precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic reported fewer health care-associated MRSA infections, especially in ICUs, researchers found.

Making key changes to pulse oximetry alarm defaults could help hospitals reduce nonactionable alarms, allowing staff to focus on actionable alarms, according to a study published in Pediatrics.

Treatment with a monoclonal antibody within 2 days of a COVID-19 diagnosis reduced the risk for hospitalization or death by almost 40%, according to a study that assessed patient outcomes over a nearly 2-year period.

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of U.S. cases of Candida auris, which has been deemed a pathogen of concern, according to experts.

ED visits for firearm injuries slightly declined in 2022 but remained 20% higher compared with rates in 2019 and were significantly prevalent among children, according to data in MWWR.

Initiating buprenorphine in the ED to patients with opioid use disorder was safe, with fewer than 1% of patients experiencing precipitated withdrawal despite a high prevalence of fentanyl use, a recent study found.

Candida auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant yeast causing nosocomial infections. First identified in 2009 in Japan, C. auris has now also been isolated in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and East Asia.

People with severe community-acquired pneumonia who were treated with hydrocortisone had a lower risk for death 28 days after diagnosis compared with those who received placebo, a phase 3 trial found.

A medication reconciliation toolkit offered specific interventions that reduced medication discrepancies during hospitalization, a study published in BMJ Quality and Safety found.

Families caring for children with technology dependence are more likely to travel long distances for medical care, routinely bypassing closer hospitals to access facilities with more capabilities, researchers reported in Pediatrics.