COVID vaccine protection drops by 80 percent in 6 months among nursing home residents: study
By
Alicia Lasek
Sep 03, 2021
Vaccinated staff members had a similar six-month decrease in immunity levels, investigators say. The data may support recommendations for vaccine booster shots, they contend.
Feds tell nursing homes to use vaccinated staff or lose funding: Providers cry foul
By
Danielle Brown
Aug 19, 2021
President Joe Biden announced late Wednesday afternoon that U.S. nursing homes must use workers vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing vital Medicare and Medicaid funding. Providers immediately criticized...
Post-acute provider launches comprehensive kidney disease program
By
Alicia Lasek
Aug 05, 2021
Services and therapies will include diabetes management, a full-time respiratory therapist and health coaching with the aim to preserve remaining kidney function. Dialysis will be added as well.
Intervention clears short-stay residents’ rooms of multi-drug resistant organisms
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 23, 2021
A trial in six Michigan nursing homes that included chlorhexidine bathing significantly reduced the prevalence of drug-resistant organisms in the residents’ rooms when compared with control nursing homes,...
COVID-19 vaccine more effective in nursing home residents with past virus exposure: study
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 16, 2021
Nursing home residents who have had a prior SARS-CoV-2 infection have stronger responses to vaccination than those who have not been exposed to the virus, a real-life investigation finds.
Nonprofit tapped by Congress invests $11M to boost vaccination rates among long-term care workers
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 15, 2021
The studies will compare methods of encouraging vaccine uptake. One will recruit 6,000 workers at 30 long-term care facilities in Washington state and Georgia. The other, at Dartmouth College, will recruit...
Stay on guard: Vaccinated residents remain susceptible to outbreaks, French nursing home studies reveal
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 13, 2021
Vaccinations and infection control measures may not entirely protect nursing homes from COVID-19 outbreaks — especially when staff members are unvaccinated, according to two new studies from France.
Diaries of infection preventionists offer peek into pandemic struggles
By
Alicia Lasek
Jul 06, 2021
Real-time reports from the height of the pandemic offer a glimpse into the highs and lows infection preventionists faced as they tackled unprecedented challenges.
Eliminating residents’ chronic pain not a realistic goal: Aim for quality of life, experts tell...
By
Alicia Lasek
Jun 24, 2021
Even the best, multimodal treatment strategies may be only 30% effective, say the authors of a new review and pain management guide.
Flu shot disparities in short-stay residents could drop by 60 percent with intervention, investigators...
By
Alicia Lasek
Jun 11, 2021
A dramatic racial and ethnic gap exists in influenza vaccination rates among short-stay and long-stay nursing homes residents, a new study has found.