A plethora of research suggests that the risk of severe health complications is highest in the weeks — not months — after a COVID-19 infection, yet this crucial period is often lumped into the broader term "long COVID-19," Benjamin Mazer, MD, wrote in an Oct. 11 article for The Atlantic.

Federal COVID-19 vaccination efforts prevented more than 650,000 hospitalizations and 300,000 deaths among Medicare beneficiaries last year, HHS said in an Oct. 7 report. 

New research from the National Institutes of Health casts doubt on the theory that rebounding COVID-19 symptoms are due to an impaired immune response.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has started providing abortions in limited circumstances and plans to cover about 1,000 procedures annually, The Hill reported Oct. 4.

Experts from New Orleans-based Ochsner Health detail their methods for monitoring patient safety and quality metrics in a new book. 

During the first year of the pandemic, emergency department patients who were awaiting to be admitted were held in the ED for a median of 6.58 hours, exceeding the four-hour period recommended by The Joint Commission, according to findings published Sept. 30 in JAMA Network Open.

From creating safety culture tools to collaborating with other systems, hospitals and health systems are consistently working to improve patient safety. 

One person is dead and another has been taken into custody after an active shooter event at CHI St. Vincent North Hospital in Sherwood, Ark., according to KARK. 

The American College of Surgeons and the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma have created a verification program to help hospitals improve the quality of care in emergency surgeries. 

Patients with long COVID-19 symptoms are more likely to have autoimmune disease markers in their blood, a study published Sept. 22 in the European Respiratory Journal found.

A new study involving nearly 20,000 participants around the world found that people got their periods about a day late, on average, after receiving their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

COVID-19 boosters add about 70 percent extra protection against omicron, which lasts four to five months, a study published Sept. 23 in the Journal of the American Medical Association found. 

New research shared this week adds to a growing body of evidence exploring COVID-19's potential long-term health ramifications for children and adults. 

Here are 12 patient safety studies Becker's has covered since July 1: 

From shock-absorbing flooring to wearable technologies, hospitals have tried a litany of interventions to get to zero patient falls. But for years, falls have consistently landed on The Joint Commission's list of most common sentinel events. 

The FDA issued a warning against cooking chicken in NyQuil after a social media challenge went viral. 

More than 80 percent of maternal deaths between 2017 and 2019 were due to preventable causes, a report from the CDC found. 

Nearly 20 percent of COVID-19 survivors may experience lingering, worsening or new-onset symptoms two years after infection, according to a study of nearly 2,000 patients who were hospitalized at the start of the pandemic in Wuhan, China. 

As abortion bans are enacted across the U.S., physicians are struggling to determine how legislation will affect what cancer treatments can be offered to pregnant patients, Kaiser Health Network reported Sept. 16.

Adults 65 and older who contract COVID-19 may be at greater risk for new-onset Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published Sept. 13 in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.