IMDA eNews 062023
The latest news affecting you and your customers…
from the Independent Medical Specialty Dealers Association
Workplace violence in health systems
Forty percent of healthcare workers have experienced an act of workplace violence in the last two years, according to a survey conducted by Premier and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Respondents indicated the incidents occurred most often while explaining or enforcing an organizational policy, or while providing an update on a patient’s condition to the patient or the patient’s family members. Contributing factors included mental illness and drugs and alcohol, among other patient-related factors. Sixty percent of those who experienced violence identified as a bedside nurse. Thirty-four percent of these nurses reported emotional or verbal violence, while 66% experienced physical or sexual violence. Over half of all respondents felt that workplace violence incidents had increased during their tenure
A ’no’ vote for device identifiers on claims forms
Updating Medicare claims forms to include unique device identifiers (UDIs) suffered a setback this month when the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics voted against recommending several updates to claims forms, including the addition of the UDI, reports STAT.(Subscription required.) The medical device industry supports identifiers in electronic health records but has pushed back on adding them to claims forms, arguing it would make the process unnecessarily burdensome. The National Committee is the statutory public advisory body to the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Symptoms of RSV-LRTI among infants can linger
Infants hospitalized for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) could have increased respiratory symptoms and lung function abnormalities until at least two years of age, according to Pulmonary Advisor. A study conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa, included infants hospitalized for an acute LRTI (first episode admissions only), as well as a control group matched 1:1 for sex and chronological age of infants who had not previously been hospitalized for LRTI. The investigators identified 308 cases of RSV involving one-year-olds and 214 cases of RSV involving two-year-olds.
Blood stream infections higher among COVID-19 inpatients
Rates of catheter-associated bloodstream infection (CABSI) were high among inpatients with COVID-19 infection, with similar rates observed between those with midline catheters vs peripherally inserted central catheters, according to a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control, reports Infectious Disease Advisor. When analyzed by catheter type, the rate of CABSI was numerically higher for patients with PICCs (5.8%) than those with MCs (3.8%), or 4.5 and 3.2 episodes per 1000 catheter-days, respectively. The time between insertion and infection onset was similar between patients with PICCs vs MCs (mean, 13.17 vs 14.25 days).