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The latest stories from AHA Today.
State reforms expanded the role of APRNs on multiple fronts. Arkansas, Florida and South Carolina recently advanced APRN prescriptive authority for opioids in specific circumstances, and legislation enacted in other states improved or clarified APRN scope of practice, including signature authority.
In a joint hearing entitled Expecting More: Addressing America’s Maternal and Infant Health Crisis, two subcommittees of the House Education and Labor Committee heard testimony focused on ways to reduce maternal mortality and eliminate racial disparities in maternal and infant health. Leaders from…
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), of the approximately 70,000 deaths resulting from drug overdoses that occurred in 2018, 69% were opioid related. In a review of barriers to Medicaid beneficiaries’ access to medication-assisted treatment, the GAO reported the ability of…
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) posted interim guidance related to the 2019 novel coronavirus for health care professionals. The posting provides criteria for evaluating a patient under investigation for having the virus, including clinical features and epidemiologic…
On Jan. 21, medical device manufacturer Cardinal Health recalled specific production lots of several types of single-sterile and bulk non-sterile surgical gowns in response to concerns about their potential contamination. The company says the gowns were manufactured at facilities that did not…
Citing Florence Nightingale’s admonition to “do the sick no harm,” an executive patient safety officer at Matheny Hospital in Peapack, N.J., recommends focusing on six principles as hospitals strive to eliminate preventable harm. He advocates for a systems approach to reaching high reliability,…
After reviewing its National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs), the Joint Commission has approved moving requirements for the following NPSGs to its accreditation standards: Transfusion errors related to patient misidentification; multidrug-resistant organisms; central line-associated bloodstream…
The American Hospital Association (AHA) Institute for Diversity and Health Equity is accepting nominations through Feb. 25 for its 2020 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award. This honor recognizes AHA member hospitals and health systems for their efforts to advance diversity, inclusion and…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have confirmed the first U.S. case of 2019 novel coronavirus, which was first detected in China in December. The patient recently returned to Washington state from Wuhan, the site of the Chinese outbreak. The CDC is working with state officials…
In response to a request for feedback on scope of practice issues, the Nursing Community Coalition (NCC) wrote to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma to support Section 5 of President Trump’s Executive Order Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nation’s Seniors…