https://medicalxpress.com/hospital-medicine-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Hospital medicine Older hospitalized patients who struggled with taking their medications correctly were 10% less likely to need to return to the hospital if they had a pharmacist's help at discharge, according to a new multisite clinical trial based at Cedars-Sinai. But the findings, published in JAMA Network Open, found the extra help didn't significantly reduce unplanned hospital visits for the rest of those 55 and older. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-hospital-discharge-day-trial-pharmacist.html Mon, 06 Apr 2026 09:00:05 EDT news694684501 Just because a topical antiseptic is swabbed on the skin doesn't mean it stays on the skin. In a new study, Northwestern University scientists studied how a powerful antiseptic, called chlorhexidine, affects bacteria in hospital environments. To prevent infections, hospitals heavily rely on chlorhexidine wipes to sterilize patients' skin before procedures. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-disinfectants-microbes-hospital-rooms.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 08:00:02 EDT news694253341 Malnutrition not only negatively impacts health, but also causes poor healing and increased infection risks, lengthening hospital stays and further burdening an under-resourced system. One in three hospital patients are not being screened for malnutrition, despite the fact that 30%–40% of patients experience the issue, new Swinburne research has found. The study is published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-hospitals-malnutrition.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:40:01 EDT news694169366 The fast-paced, high-pressure environment often portrayed in emergency department TV dramas reflects a real challenge in hospitals: how to diagnose patients quickly and move them safely through care under intense time pressure. A new study from FIU Business finds that brief, structured team meetings among hospital staff—known as progression-of-care huddles—can significantly speed diagnosis and discharge times. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-hospital-huddles-decision-diagnosis-discharge.html Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:10:07 EDT news694109522 A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham and Yale School of Public Health reveals that red blood cell exchange transfusion (ET) may provide critical benefits for patients hospitalized with severe babesiosis. Babesiosis is a tick-borne parasitic disease that infects red blood cells and can have life-threatening complications. ET, a procedure sometimes used in severe cases, involves removing a patient's infected red blood cells and replacing them with healthy donor red blood cells. The study's results, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, have the potential to improve outcomes for patients with severe disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-severe-babesiosis-red-blood-cell.html Mon, 30 Mar 2026 11:00:01 EDT news693834791 Older adults who develop delirium during a hospital admission face a substantially higher risk of dementia in later years, even if they had no prior health conditions, according to a major new population study appearing in The Lancet Healthy Longevity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-hospital-delirium-linked-dementia-healthy.html Fri, 27 Mar 2026 06:00:09 EDT news693745561 Efforts to address workplace violence against health care professionals need to evolve beyond preventing individual incidents to confronting systemic challenges that impede patient-centered, trauma-informed care, according to an article published in AACN Advanced Critical Care. Titled "Five Topics Overlooked in Workplace Violence Discussions in Health Care Settings," the study examines five underrecognized yet critical domains of inquiry that form the basis for practice and cultural changes in workplace violence prevention (WVP) on non-psychiatric units. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-workplace-violence-health-requires-paradigm.html Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:40:01 EDT news693652843 Hospital stays can be long and arduous; they can also cause serious complications. When a person lies in one position too long and begins to sweat, painful sores called pressure injuries (PIs) can form on the body, leading to infection or even death. A patient can develop a PI in a few days—or even a few hours. And once present, a PI is hard to treat. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-sensor-pressure-injuries.html Sun, 22 Mar 2026 15:00:03 EDT news692877104 Shoulder replacement is the third most common joint-replacement surgery in the U.S. and is likely to become more common as the population ages, according to Penn State researchers. Though most patients go home on the same day as their surgery, those with greater health risks or serious injuries are admitted to the hospital for shoulder replacement. Patients who experience complications like infection or sepsis sometimes need to be readmitted to the hospital for treatment at a later date. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-reveals-indicators-hospital-readmission-shoulder.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 17:00:04 EDT news692984041 A Global Grand Challenges case study reveals the potential of large language models (LLMs) to close health gaps in South Asia, but only when they're adapted and fine-tuned using local data and expertise. The study, "Evaluating large language models for clinical note processing: local fine-tuning and internal–external validation using electronic health records from South Asia," has been published in BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. A collaboration between Associate Professor Sara Khalid at NDORMS and Dr. Faisal Sultan from the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Pakistan. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-fair-safe-medical-ai-local.html Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:10:01 EDT news692896921 A new analysis in Oregon reveals a heightened incidence of severe burns requiring hospital-level care as illicit drug use nationwide has shifted from injection to smoking. Researchers analyzed Oregon Medicaid data and found that over half of people treated for burns in hospitals and emergency rooms over nearly a decade also used smokable drugs other than tobacco. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-severe-threat-overdose-epidemic.html Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:40:07 EDT news692891642 A new study found that a multifaceted infection prevention and control intervention could at least temporarily thwart outbreaks of infections from the Klebsiella pneumoniae bacterium, a leading cause of neonatal sepsis and mortality in Africa and South Asia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-mitigate-bacteria-neonatal-mortality.html Sun, 15 Mar 2026 15:00:01 EDT news692448116 New research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has found that a single, 20-minute virtual reality (VR) training session could boost medical professionals' confidence in managing aggressive patients, highlighting the potential for immersive technology to strengthen frontline health care skills quickly and effectively. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-hospital-assaults-vr.html Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:50:01 EDT news692522491 A nonfatal opioid overdose is often treated as a near miss. But clinically, it is one of the strongest predictors of future harm—and one of the few moments when patients are actively engaged with the health care system. What happens next can shape outcomes long after the crisis has passed. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-tracks-days-nonfatal-opioid-overdose.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 20:10:01 EDT news692444492 Sepsis moves fast. A patient can arrive at hospital with what appears to be a routine infection and, within hours, develop organ failure. Survival often depends on how quickly treatment begins. Across Europe, doctors are seeing increasingly complex cases. Populations are aging and more people are living with chronic illness. At the same time, antimicrobial resistance, when bacteria no longer respond to antibiotics, is making infections harder to treat. Together, these pressures are reshaping the landscape of sepsis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-sepsis-harder-europe.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 19:50:01 EDT news692454709 As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more common in health care, from managing records to assisting with medication decisions, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai are asking an important question: How well does AI hold up when the workload gets intense at a health system scale? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-orchestrated-multi-agent-ai-outperform.html Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:00:05 EDT news692448111 Bloodstream infections (BSI) can turn deadly fast, particularly for patients with weakened immune systems. A new study from Houston Methodist Research Institute finds that artificial intelligence can assist clinicians in identifying previously unseen patterns of infection in patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-ai-clinicians-high-patients-bloodstream.html Mon, 09 Mar 2026 13:30:03 EDT news692281261 A new report from Griffith University has found that fragmented medication systems in Australian aged care are driving high rates of medication discrepancies and avoidable hospital admissions—costing the health system an estimated $312 million annually. The report is published by Griffith University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-reveals-medication-aged.html Thu, 05 Mar 2026 07:20:01 EST news691914661 For patients requiring urgent and emergent surgery, bypassing the nearest surgical hospital (NSH) is associated with worse clinical outcomes, according to a study published online Feb. 18 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-bypassing-closest-surgical-site-urgent.html Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:00:03 EST news691339208 A University of Queensland study has found that almost 90% of people killed and injured by landmines and similar weapons are civilians. Dr. Stacey Pizzino from UQ's School of Public Health, together with her research team, collated information on 105,931 casualties in 17 countries and regions across Asia, Europe, Africa and South America. The research is published in the journal Communications Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-civilians-deadly-explosive-weapons-country.html Wed, 25 Feb 2026 18:20:04 EST news691259041 Telemedicine visits are five times less costly than in-person appointments for the most common conditions able to be treated by both forms of visits, new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows. On average, telemedicine patient visits were billed $400 less, and they also resulted in fewer follow-up visits after the initial appointment. The analysis is published in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-telemedicine-office.html Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:00:01 EST news691174622 There's an unsung success story about the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. At its outset, U.S. hospitals faced huge challenges, as influxes of patients strained resources, while doctors were uncertain about what treatments would work against the novel infection. It's remarkable that even before vaccines were widely deployed, hospitals were able to drastically reduce COVID-19 mortality rates, from 7.46% in April 2020 to 1.76% a year later. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-hospitals-advanced-trial-covid-mortality.html Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:39:33 EST news690568741 A "superbug" fungus is spreading in health care facilities across the country, and according to researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, represents a multi-drug resistant threat that requires early detection and response. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-cases-dangerous-superbug-ky-states.html Thu, 12 Feb 2026 17:50:01 EST news690102023 A new study conducted by clinician-scientists at a dozen neonatal intensive care units, or NICUs, across North America found that enhanced infection prevention measures were highly effective in reducing viral spread among patients. Researchers say the study, published in JAMA Network Open, underscores the importance of infection control efforts within hospitals, especially during times of high viral activity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-infection-important-nicu.html Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:52:43 EST news690137521 Hospitals across the United States are always looking for ways to reduce costs and avoid medical malpractice lawsuits, while not sacrificing quality of health care. So how are hospitals impacted when government policy reduces their exposure to malpractice liability? Researchers from Georgia State University and Michigan State University analyzed how state-level tort reform laws on non-economic damages, which limit how much money patients can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits, affect hospital performance. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-tort-reform-hospitals-patient-satisfaction.html Thu, 12 Feb 2026 11:52:25 EST news690119522 Nurses can safely deliver many services traditionally performed by doctors, with little to no difference in deaths, safety events, or how patients felt about their health, according to a new review, appearing in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. In some cases, nurse-led care even outperformed doctor-led care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-nurses-hospital-doctors.html Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:00:01 EST news690023282 Police Scotland has launched an investigation into the deaths of six patients, including adults and children, believed to have contracted fatal infections at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-superbugs-hospitals.html Tue, 10 Feb 2026 22:10:01 EST news689956436 A long-standing Medicare policy meant to manage rehabilitation services in nursing homes may keep older Americans in hospitals longer than necessary without improving patient health or saving Medicare money, new research finds. Established in 1965, the rule was intended to manage the use of skilled nursing facilities, which provide short-term medical and rehabilitative care to Medicare beneficiaries. Known as the "three-day rule," it requires patients to spend at least three consecutive days in the hospital before Medicare will cover care in a nursing facility. Skilled nursing facilities are used as a post-hospital benefit by one in five Medicare beneficiaries after hospitalization, and Medicare pays an average of about $15,000 for each stay. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-outdated-medicare-delays-nursing-hospital.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:00:07 EST news689599973 For patients hospitalized with severe hyponatremia, faster sodium correction is associated with a lower risk for 90-day death or delayed neurologic events, according to a study published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-poor-outcomes-faster-sodium-severe.html Wed, 04 Feb 2026 08:10:02 EST news689411209 Patients with duplicate medical records are five times more likely to die after being admitted to hospital and three times more likely to require intensive care than those with a single medical record, reveals US research published online in the journal BMJ Quality & Safety. The findings prompt the researchers to call for improvements in data integrity and policy changes in health information management to boost patient safety. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-duplicate-medical-linked-heightened-inpatient.html Tue, 03 Feb 2026 18:30:05 EST news689319361