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A growing body of research shows that overuse and misuse of antibiotics in children鈥檚 hospitals is helping fuel superbugs, which typically strike frail seniors but are increasingly infecting kids. And the pandemic is making things worse.
In some parts of the country, the surge in covid cases is overwhelming coroners, morgues, funeral homes and religious leaders. It has required ingenuity and even changed the rituals of honoring the dead.
At least 2,900 health workers have died since the pandemic began. Many were minorities with the highest levels of patient contact.
After missteps in Washington, each state and county is left to juggle where to send vaccines first and how to get them to each nursing home, hospital local health department and even school.
A UCSF emergency room physician reflects on California鈥檚 response to COVID-19 and on lessons learned 鈥 or not 鈥 as the coronavirus makes its second devastating surge.
As some patients linger near death, staffers at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center seek ways to expand capacity for a surge of cases that isn鈥檛 letting up.
Kaiser Health News gives readers a chance to comment on a recent batch of stories.
Even as the federal Food and Drug Administration engaged in intense deliberations ahead of Friday's authorization of the nation鈥檚 first COVID vaccine, and days before the initial doses were to be released, hospitals have been grappling with how to distribute the first scarce shots. Their plans vary broadly.
Hospitals across the country are struggling as staffers get infected with the coronavirus. It's especially tough for small, rural hospitals, where even one doctor out sick can upend patient capacity.
More than 93,000 COVID patients are hospitalized across the country. But beds and space aren't the main concern for hospital administrators 鈥 It's the health care workforce.
Four workers died at a facility with one of the largest U.S. outbreaks, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration never conducted an inspection. It鈥檚 a pattern that鈥檚 played out across the nation, a KHN investigation finds.
Critically ill rural patients are often sent to city hospitals for high-level treatment, and as their numbers grow, some urban hospitals are buckling under the added strain. Meanwhile, mask-wearing and other pandemic prevention measures remain spotty in rural counties.
COVID-19鈥檚 toll weighs heavily on nurses, who can suffer stress and other psychological problems if they don鈥檛 believe they are able to help their patients sufficiently.
A shortage of nurses has turned hospital staffing into a sort of national bidding war, with hospitals willing to pay exorbitant wages to secure the nurses they need. That threatens to shift the supply of nurses toward more affluent areas.
Referrals of children to urgent care clinics or emergency rooms have become so prevalent that the American Academy of Pediatrics came out with interim guidance on how practices can safely continue to see patients. The academy recommended that pediatricians strive "to provide care for the same variety of visits that they provided prior to the public health emergency."
The state鈥檚 hospital association in September picked Mary Mayhew to be its new CEO. While leading the state Medicaid office, she was a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act鈥檚 Medicaid expansion program.
Crooked Media鈥檚 鈥淎merica Dissected鈥 explores the rural health crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Podcast guest KHN Editor-in-Chief Elisabeth Rosenthal said: 鈥淚 expect we鈥檒l see a lot more rural hospital failures.鈥
In Fort Scott, Kansas, the Community Health Center鈥檚 big green-and-white sign replaced Mercy Hospital鈥檚 name on the front of the town鈥檚 massive medical building. In the final chapter of Season One: 鈥淣o Mercy,鈥 we have an appointment to see what鈥檚 inside.
Frequently employed by staffing agencies based in other states, nurses and other healthcare professionals can find themselves working through crisis without advocates or adequate safety equipment.
Meet Josh. He鈥檚 a teenager in Fort Scott, Kansas, who dropped out of high school around the same time the town鈥檚 hospital closed. He says those two things are related.
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