WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) — U.S. hospitals continue to reel from the pressure posed by the ongoing pandemic, facing critical workforce shortages and rising labor costs that amount to a “national emergency,” hospital executives say. Nearly 1,400 hospitals — 31% of the nation’s total — are on theContinue Reading

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) — People hospitalized for COVID-19 are not necessarily out of the woods once they’re discharged: Many land in the hospital again in the months afterward, a large U.K. study finds. The researchers found that in the 10 months after leaving the hospital, COVID-19 patientsContinue Reading

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Remember when everyone was disinfecting their groceries at the start of the pandemic, fearful that the new coronavirus could be spread simply by touching a surface on which the virus had landed? New research confirms that much of that cleaning was unnecessary becauseContinue Reading

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 26, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Saline intravenous (IV) fluids are as effective as more costly solutions in treating intensive care patients and keeping them alive, Australian researchers report. “Just about every patient admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) will receive intravenous fluids for resuscitation or as partContinue Reading

MONDAY, Jan. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The coronavirus can leave more than 40% of children hospitalized for COVID-19 with headaches and other lingering neurological symptoms, a new study claims. And the kids who developed these headaches or experienced an altered mental status known as acute encephalopathy were more likelyContinue Reading

FRIDAY, Jan. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Booster shots are keeping the Omicron variant from landing millions of Americans in hospitals, emergency rooms and urgent care clinics across the country, three new government studies show. In one study, published Friday in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s MorbidityContinue Reading

FRIDAY, Jan. 21, 2022 (HealthDay News) — The risk of hospitalization for COVID-19 among older Americans is far higher for those who are unvaccinated than for those who are fully vaccinated and have had a booster shot, new government data shows. The differences were stark: In December, unvaccinated people 50Continue Reading

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) — A seemingly endless wait in an emergency department can be taxing for many reasons, but new research suggests that long delays in being admitted to the hospital may even raise a patient’s risk of death within the following 30 days. Why? One possibleContinue Reading

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Homelessness is difficult enough, but when it’s compounded by serious mental health issues the result can be an inability to function at even the most basic level. Sometimes that leads to round-the-clock involuntary hospitalization, and when that happens a state-appointed psychiatric conservator canContinue Reading

TUESDAY, Jan. 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) — It’s too soon to determine whether Omicron’s rapid spread will turn a pandemic virus into an endemic disease, America’s top infectious disease expert says. That “would only be the case if we don’t get another variant that eludes the immune response to theContinue Reading

TUESDAY, Jan. 18, 2022 (HealthDay News) — As a record number of American kids are being hospitalized with COVID-19, a new study helps clarify which ones are at the highest risk for serious complications. The study tracked over 3,200 children and teenagers who landed in an emergency room with COVID-19Continue Reading

THURSDAY, Jan. 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) — President Joe Biden plans to announce Thursday that a “surge” of U.S. military medical personnel will soon be deployed to hospitals struggling with staff shortages amid soaring COVID-19 cases. More than 1,000 will begin arriving at hospitals nationwide starting next week, and thatContinue Reading

THURSDAY, Jan. 13, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Binge drinking on Super Bowl Sunday or other special occasions could put you at risk for a dangerous heart rhythm disorder called atrial fibrillation (a-fib), even if you’ve never had it, researchers warn in a new study. “Worldwide, alcohol is the most popularlyContinue Reading