Multiple May articles and information of interest
Posted almost 4 years ago by Meredith Roberts
Nursing Compact The senate passed the latest nurse compact update & messaged the House
ANA National Call for Nominations is open until 5:00pm ET, Monday,June 29,2020
More money needed for hospitals to care for COVID-19 patients AHA & ANA tell Congress
Hospitals need additional financial support to financially survive while treating patients with COVID-19, the American Hospital Association (AHA)and the American Nurses Association (ANA) told House and Senate leaders in recent letters
The AHA and ANA support separate funding and initiatives to cover the uninsured, However, the CARES Act funding was not intended or funded at an appropriate enough level to cover the uninsured. Hence, they suggest Congress needs to address the issue of the uninsured and those who lose their health insurance because of the economic crisis due to the pandemic by establishing a separate fund to cover the costs of child and dependent care for essential healthcare employees; to supply housing and transportation vouchers; for free regular testing of COVID-19 and to ensure frontline nurses, physicians and other personnel are prioritized for testing of the virus and for antibody testing….The fund should also cover survivor benefits for frontline nurses and physicians; for education vouchers and student loan repayment; and for liability protections for facilities and frontline healthcare providers.
Another suggestion was for hospitals, that Congress should: provide loan forgiveness for accelerated payments; allow investor-owned hospitals to participate in FEMA funding without state contracts; and more. Read more: https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/node/140049
Studies show significant risks to health workers during pandemic (May 21)
Front-line healthcare workers are at significant risk for COVID-19 and can contribute to community spread, according to several new studies, including two published Thursday in JAMA Network Open.
The findings -- nearly 47 percent of cases analyzed in six countries were linked to work places, most in healthcare -- suggest front-line workers need better protection, experts say.
"Protecting the high-risk workers ... not only helps protect them from being affected, but it provides an opportunity to prevent secondary infections of family, colleagues and others," Fan-Yun Lan, a doctoral candidate in Population Health Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Read more: https://www.upi.com/Health_News/2020/05/21/Studies-show-significant-risks-to-health-workers-during-pandemic/2371590066596/
Survey finds 87% of America’s nurses forced to reuse protective equipment
Survey of 23,000 across 50 states finds that despite ongoing calls for protective measures, 84% of those surveyed have not been tested for Covid-19 and 72% work with exposed skin or clothing. More than 100 nurses have died since the beginning of the pandemic. Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/survey-finds-87-of-americas-nurses-are-forced-to-reuse-protective-equipment
Nurses around the world tell us how their lives have changed during the pandemic, and how they cope on the front lines
Nurses are the on frontlines, make up 59% of the healthcare workforce, and provide the majority of patients' day-to-day care. The latest data from the International Council of Nurses (ICN) suggest 90,000 nurses have been infected, and at least 260 have died, though that is probably a huge underestimate, according to Annette Kennedy, director of the ICN.
Even before the pandemic, nurses were already stretched, working back-to-back shifts with limited resources.
After the coronavirus hit, double shifts turned into triple, with vacation replaced by extra shifts or sick leave for those who've contracted the coronavirus — an increasingly common scenario, exacerbated by global shortages of coronavirus tests and personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers. Nurses share their stories from around the world: https://www.businessinsider.com/nurses-tell-us-how-their-lives-have-changed-during-coronavirus-2020-5
Coronavirus appears to be more fatal in men than women
Data from Italy, China and South Korea suggest the coronavirus is killing more men than women. Read more: https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/488507-coronavirus-appears-to-be-more-fatal-in-men-than
Can you get coronavirus twice?
- Reports of patients testing positive for the coronavirus for a second time have come out of China, Japan and South Korea.
- Health officials believe positive retests are more likely the result of errors in testing, rather than reinfection.
- Anthony Fauci said Thursday it’s likely the case that someone who gets infected once is immune.
Much is still unknown about the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 137,000 people across the globe and killed more than 5,000. But as the United States and other countries have been confronting the increasing threat of COVID-19, many have asked whether it’s possible for patients to catch the coronavirus more than once.
In mainland China, where the outbreak originated and where the majority of cases occurred, there have been more than 100 reported cases of patients released from hospitals, who later tested positive for the coronavirus a second time….“Once you have the infection, it could remain dormant with minimal symptoms,” Philip Tierno Jr., professor of microbiology and pathology at New York University, told Reuters last month. “And then you can get an exacerbation if it finds its way into the lungs…” Read more: https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/487436-can-you-get-coronavirus-twice
The coronavirus has mutated and appears to be more contagious now, new study finds
- The coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China, has mutated and the new, dominant strain spreading across the U.S. appears to be even more contagious, according to a new study.
- The new strain began spreading in Europe in early February before migrating to other parts of the world, including the U.S., becoming the dominant form of the virus across the globe by the end of March, researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory wrote.
- If the coronavirus doesn’t subside in the summer like the seasonal flu, it could mutate further and potentially limit the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccines being developed
Here are some of the best maps to track the coronavirus pandemic https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/487469-here-are-some-of-the-best-maps-to-track-the
Link to ANA April 24 National Survey: Nurses Fear Going to Work Due to Lack of Protection from Virus More than 32k Nurses Share Experience from the Front Lines: new findings from a survey of more than 32,000 nurses nationwide on the front lines of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
Important Advisories and Alerts:
5/26/2020 Guidance on N95 Respirator Sterilization in Your Region
|
05/21/2020 |
Pharmacist Ordering and Administration of Testing for COVID-19 in Vermont |
|
05/18/2020 |
Overview of Pediatric Cases of Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in Vermont: March 27-May 10, 2020 |
|
05/13/2020 |
|
|
05/13/2020 |
Overview of Vermont Residents Testing Positive for SARS-CoV-2 (April 18-30, 2020) |
|
05/08/2020 |
New Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)-Related Recommendations almost 100% of individuals develop symptoms within 11 ½ days after exposure to an individual with COVID-19. Therefore, the recommended period of quarantine is 12 days. Individuals in quarantine can be tested day 7; if results are negative and they are asymptomatic, they can end quarantine |
|
05/06/2020 |
Requested Actions: Complete the Projected Personal Protective Equipment Needs Survey. Begin using the CDC Burn Rate Calculator (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/burn-calculator.html) if your facility is not already doing so. |
|
05/05/2020 |
Widespread Testing of All Mildly Symptomatic Patients Needed |
Link to all Alerts: https://www.healthvermont.gov/response/alerts/health-alerts-advisories