Here are 14 articles on medical research study findings from the weeks of March 4 and March 11.
1. New research determined socioeconomic factors — such as income level and education level — as well as hospital type may predict a patient's odds of dying within 30 days after undergoing a lung cancer operation.
2. One study compared the annual patient mortality rates in hospital service areas with one or more closure with HSAs that didn't experience any hospital closures and found no significant difference between the two.
3. Using direct observation and electronic observers, researchers found low hand hygiene compliance rates in hospital reception areas.
4. A recent survey discovered more than half of patients with acute coronary syndrome who undergo surgery to receive a heart stent don't adhere to their therapy as prescribed.
5. Reprocessed endoscopes can be safely stored for as long as 21 days after reprocessing, according to recent research.
6. Researchers found giving a strain of nonaggressive Clostridium difficile to patients who recovered from a C. diff infection after treatment with antibiotics can reduce CDI recurrence.
7. According to a recent study, people who have Type 2 diabetes and are overweight live longer than diabetics whose body mass index categorizes them as obese, normal or low weight.
8. The University of California in Merced and American University in Washington, D.C., developed a method of cycling antibiotics that may help reverse bacterial resistance.
9. Even though an American who survived Ebola was declared Ebola-free after being treated at Atlanta-based Emory University Hospital, the virus was discovered lingering in his eye, according to a recent study.
10. One study revealed hospitalized leukemia patients have more than twice the risk of developing a C. diff infection than non-leukemia patients in the hospital.
11. A global online survey found many patients with systemic lupus erythematosus find it hard to describe their symptoms to physicians, leading to gaps in understanding of the illness and care for its patients.
12. A report in the May issue of AORN Journal identified three main risk factor categories for surgical site infections.
13. Researchers from the University of Toronto determined the economic impact C. diff infections have on hospitals.
14. Scientists at Stanford (Calif.) University found blood tests can shorten the time it takes to identify sepsis in patients from three days to less than one hour.