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A new study – published in Nursing Research – has found that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted patient safety indicators in U.S. hospitals. The study, from Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR), examined data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators to assess trends in nursing-sensitive quality indicators from 2019 to 2022. The prevention of these very distressing, uncomfortable conditions is considered to be under the nurse’s purview and directly influenced by nursing care.
The investigation found that rates of falls, bloodstream infections from central line catheters, urinary tract infections from urinary catheters, pressure injuries from devices or immobility, and pneumonia associated with ventilator use, all increased significantly during the pandemic. While some of these rates have begun to decline, they have not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. When a patient falls, develops a pressure injury, or suffers a hospital-acquired infection, these adverse events delay the patient’s ability to go home, to be comfortable, and to heal.
"The pandemic placed an immense strain on healthcare systems and frontline workers, and the impact on patient safety is evident in these data," said Eileen T. Lake, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Edith Clemmer Steinbright Professor in Gerontology; Professor of Nursing in the Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences; and Associate Director of CHOPR. "It's crucial that we address the ongoing challenges faced by nurses and invest in this professional workforce."
The study highlights the importance of supporting nurses and ensuring they have the resources and support they need to provide high-quality care. It also underscores the need for continued efforts to improve patient safety indicators even as the pandemic subsides --->READ MORE HERE
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| Photographer: Howard Schnapp/Getty Images/Newsday RM |
America’s travel industry has gone through a sluggish recovery since the Covid-19 pandemic—reaching just 84% of its pre-pandemic international arrivals by the close of 2023. That’s in stark contrast to global competitors such as France and Spain, which blew past 2019 visitation levels that same year. One the major culprits: significant visa processing delays at US embassies around the world.
Now there’s hope for a major turnaround for the US travel and tourism sector. At a press conference on Oct. 29, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said they expect a faster rebound in inbound visitation to the US, citing a long-awaited reduction in wait times for visa appointments and processing, which will help the US take advantage of major sporting events taking place there in the next 10 years.
In the 12 months up to Sept. 30, the US State Department issued a record 11.5 million visas, 8.5 million of which were visitor visas, said Blinken. The median wait time for first-time visitors to receive an appointment for a visa interview at a US consulate has dropped to 60 days from more than 400 days.
Blinken added that the State Department plans to increase the number of visa appointments by 1 million (8.7%) in 2025. These shorter wait times are helping boost travel to the US, which is now expected to reach its pre-pandemic level of 79.4 million visitors next year, according to the Commerce Department. By 2026, the country will be on track to receive 90 million visitors—a benchmark the government did not anticipate reaching until 2027.
The two secretaries said their respective offices have been closely collaborating to remove roadblocks that have slowed the rebound of US inbound tourism—which brought in $155 billion in direct spending from international visitors in 2023, according to the US Travel Association.
“More people are traveling to the United States than ever before, and more Americans are traveling the world than ever before,” said Blinken.
The rebound for America’s inbound tourism will come ahead of what Raimondo and Blinken both described as a “mega-decade” for sporting events in the US. These include the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will be jointly hosted with Canada and Mexico and is expected to attract as many as 6 million visitors to 11 US cities, including New York, Miami, Boston and Dallas, according to the US Travel Association, and the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games in 2028. The US will also host the Rugby World Cup in 2031, making it the first North American country to do so. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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