Not to go full Buzzfeed on you, but there are a few simple ways we can make our hospitals and communities safer from COVID-19. (Number 4 will not surprise you.)
Everybody wants a "life hack" - an easier, smarter way of doing something - but those only work for making something that's already pretty easy a little bit easier. Like making a low-cost bookmark from objects you already have around the house.
For something extremely complicated - like lowering hospital supply chain spend or reducing the rate of pandemic virus deaths - you'll need to put in a lot of work.
It's not fun, but it is more likely to work, as long as you follow the advice of experts. And we've gathered some of this week's best below.
- One good piece of news is that - despite our inability to interact in person and the recent power and service outages that devastated our home state - Z5 Inventory and Steward Health Care were able to give recommendations on avoiding the high cost of product expiration. Here are some key takeaways featured on the Becker's newsfeed.
- About that never-ending pandemic situation: an expert clarified that we're not currently trying to eliminate the virus. We're trying to live with it. Which - seemingly needless to say - isn't an option for everybody.
- Many COVID-19-positive hospital patients continue to be admitted for reasons other than COVID-19 and are, in fact, asymptomatic. They represent a significant infection threat to hospital workers and other patients.
- And the rate of people who are aware that they have COVID-19 might well go down, because testing rates have significantly decreased. What might help is that CMS just urged insurers to cover asymptomatic testing without any qualifications.
- And there's the fact that the newly approved J&J vaccine could massively improve the immunization rates of communities without ready access to the other two vaccines.
Sign up for our Five To Save newsletter and get more news free in your inbox. Okay, so that one is actually pretty fast and pretty easy and pretty beneficial.