Becker's Hospital Review

15 INFECTION CONTROL & PATIENT SAFETY Pennsylvania hospital cited over 2nd patient death in 2 months By Mackenzie Bean H ealth officials cited Well- Span York (Pa.) Hospital over a patient's death in October 2019, which represents the second such citation the hospital received over a two-month period last year, according to a state report cited by the York Dispatch. e Pennsylvania Department of Health investigated the most recent patient death and determined that hospital employees "failed to maintain a safe environment for the patient's condition," according to the report. Records show the patient's oxygen levels and heart rate rapidly dropped while hospitalized at York Hospital. However, employees failed to notify members of the patient's care team about the vital-sign changes, the report found. e patient died about 30 minutes aer his or her vitals fell on Oct. 17, 2019, reported CBS 21 News. WellSpan conducted an internal review of the incident and determined that a "communication issue regarding vital sign monitoring had occurred" involving the patient, who was "se- riously ill and had complex medical conditions," the health system said in a statement cited by CBS 21 News. York Hospital has since implemented new protocols and reporting processes for patients in serious condition to pre- vent a similar situation from occurring. e state health department has ap- proved a plan of correction submitted by WellSpan and does not intend to impose any additional sanctions or fines. e death occurred just two months aer a different patient died in York Hospital's emergency department aer being le unattended for more than an hour. n Flu scarier than coronavirus for Americans, February poll finds By Anuja Vaidya T he percentage of Americans worrying about coronavirus is lower than those worrying about influenza, a poll conducted in February found. The poll was conducted by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Af- fairs Research at the University of Chicago from Feb. 13-16 and includes responses from 1,074 adults nationwide. When asked if they were worried about contracting coronavirus or a family mem- ber contracting it: • 22 percent of respondents said they were extremely/very worried • 23 percent said they were somewhat worried • 55 percent said they were not too worried/not at all worried When asked if they were worried about contracting the flu or a family member contracting it: • 23 percent said they were extremely/very worried • 40 percent said they were somewhat worried • 37 percent said they were not too worried/not at all worried Overall, Americans have confidence in U.S. health officials' ability to handle the outbreak of a new virus, with 35 percent of respondents reporting they have a "great deal or quite a bit" of confidence, and 43 percent reporting they have a "moderate amount" of confidence. A greater proportion of those who received their flu vaccine had confidence in officials' ability to deal with a new epidemic, with 80 percent of vaccinated adults saying they had a "great deal" or "moderate amount" of confidence. n Coronaviruses can remain on surfaces for up to 9 days, study finds By Gabrielle Masson C oronaviruses can persist on inanimate surfaces and remain infectious at room temperature for up to nine days, according to a study published Feb. 6 in the Journal of Hospital Infection. Researchers analyzed 22 studies on coronaviruses, including literature on SARS and MERS. An analysis revealed that the viruses normally survive on surfaces between four and five days, but can remain infectious for up to nine days. Low temperatures and high air humidity increase the lifespan. In human-to-human transmission, coronaviruses incubate for two to 10 days and can spread via airborne droplets and contaminated hands or other surfaces. How- ever, surface disinfection procedures using 62 to 71 percent ethanol, 0.5 percent hydrogen peroxide or 0.1 percent sodium hypochlorite are effective against coro- naviruses within one minute. "Different coronaviruses were analysed, and the results were all similar," Eike Steinmann, study author and head of the Department for Molecular and Medical Virology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany, said in a news release. n

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