The U.S. is repeating its deadliest pandemic mistake.

OLGA KHAZAN

Newspaper/Magazine Article

The U.S. is repeating its deadliest pandemic mistake.

July 22, 2020

KHAZAN OLGA. The Atlantic. 2020;July 6.

View more articles from the same authors.

Residential care facilities have been particularly challenged by COVID-19. This article outlines how lack of access to protective equipment, staff training, accurate statistics and effective employee testing have hindered the ability of nursing homes to protect patients and staff from the virus.

Free full text

Related Resources From the Same Author(s)

Doctors and dentists still flooding U.S. with opioid prescriptions.

July 29, 2020

New U.S. health crisis looms as patients without COVID-19 delay care.

July 29, 2020

‘No one is listening to us’.

November 25, 2020

The prosecution of RaDonda Vaught: an ethical and legal mistake.

December 21, 2022

FDA recommends health care professionals discuss naloxone with all patients when prescribing opioid pain relievers or medicines to treat opioid use disorder.

August 5, 2020

When the misdiagnosis is child abuse.

September 2, 2020

Patient Safety, Spring 2019 Final CDP Report.

March 25, 2020

Improving Diagnostic Quality and Safety/Reducing Diagnostic Error: Measurement Considerations. Final Report

October 28, 2020

COVID-19 exposes potential gaps in PPE training, effectiveness.

April 22, 2020

Dermatology faces a reckoning: lack of darker skin in textbooks and journals harms care for patients of color.

August 5, 2020

How real-time data can change the patient safety game.

July 22, 2020

Understanding the link between burnout and sub-optimal care: why should healthcare education be interested in employee silence?

May 4, 2022

Engaging patients as safety partners: some considerations for ensuring a culturally and linguistically appropriate approach.

November 12, 2008

The Power to Predict: Leveraging Medical Malpractice Data to Reduce Patient Harm and Financial Loss.

June 24, 2020

FDA Patient Safety News. A Video News Show for Health Professionals.

March 6, 2005

Potential for false positive results with antigen tests for rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2--letter to clinical laboratory staff and health care providers.

November 11, 2020

Hospitals Can Take Key Steps to Improve Safe Use of Digital Systems.

August 12, 2020

Avoiding care during the pandemic could mean life or death.

August 12, 2020

Preventing medication errors at small and rural hospitals.

May 20, 2020

First Do No Harm. The Report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review.

July 22, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic’s wider health-care crisis.

July 15, 2020

A health system that won't learn from its mistakes.

September 21, 2022

Making Complaints Count: Supporting Complaints Handling in the NHS and UK Government Departments.

October 7, 2020

How the pandemic defeated America.

August 19, 2020

Concurrent and Overlapping Surgeries: Additional Measures Warranted.

January 11, 2017

Half the time, nursing homes scrutinized on safety by Medicare are still treacherous.

July 19, 2017

Drug Shortages: Root Causes and Potential Solutions.

November 13, 2019

Five Steps to Safer Health Care.

March 27, 2005

FDA advises health care professionals and patients about insulin pen packaging and dispensing.

October 28, 2020

FDA alerts health care professionals to the temporary absence of warning statement on the vial caps of two neuromuscular blocking agents.

July 15, 2020

COVID-19 can last for several months. The disease’s “long-haulers” have endured relentless waves of debilitating symptoms—and disbelief from doctors and friends.

July 1, 2020

Medication Safety During the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Have We Learned in the United States.

June 23, 2020

Cognitive bias and public health policy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

July 22, 2020

AMA meeting: delegates see boosting quality of care as duty.

July 15, 2009

Inadequate Emergency Department Care and Physician Misconduct at the Washington DC VA Medical Center.

August 12, 2020

Best Practices in Developing Proprietary Names for Human Prescription Drug Products Guidance for Industry.

December 23, 2020

Wear face masks with no metal during MRI exams.

December 16, 2020

The source of purchased medications and its impact on medication mistakes and hospitalizations.

March 16, 2022

The optimal use of telehealth to deliver safe patient care.

October 21, 2020

As coronavirus ravaged nursing homes, inspectors were not being tested.

August 5, 2020

Addressing Health Worker Burnout.

June 8, 2022

Important change to heparin container labels to clearly state the total drug strength.

December 19, 2012

Kadcyla (ado-trastuzumab emtansine): drug safety communication—potential medication errors resulting from name confusion.

May 15, 2013

ReliOn insulin syringes for use with U-100 insulin (Tyco Healthcare-Covidien).

November 19, 2008

Heparin sodium injection 10,000 units/mL, and HEP-LOCK U/P 10 units/mL medication errors.

February 21, 2007

Chronicle of a pandemic foretold: learning from the COVID-19 failure—before the next outbreak arrives.

July 1, 2020

Coronavirus: can this California prison save itself from Covid-19?

August 5, 2020

As college students return, a crisis in campus care awaits.

July 29, 2020

Lifetime prevalence and correlates of patient-perceived medical errors experienced in the U.S. ambulatory setting: a population-based study.

November 18, 2020

A longitudinal study of clinical peer review's impact on quality and safety in US hospitals.

November 27, 2013

Bias and racism teaching rounds at an academic medical center.

December 23, 2020

Ensuring Healthcare Safety Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic.

June 10, 2020

Fentanyl transdermal system (marketed as Duragesic) information.

July 10, 2015

Saving lives: hospitals have signed on to a six-part plan to avoid a multitude of unnecessary deaths.

July 13, 2005

A spike in people dying at home suggests coronavirus deaths in Houston may be higher than reported.

July 22, 2020

Patient harm: when an attorney won't take your case.

January 22, 2014

The ethics and practical importance of defining, distinguishing and disclosing nursing errors: a discussion paper.

March 29, 2006

Oversight Hearing on Recent Patient Safety Issues.

June 28, 2006

The Safety of Maternity Services in England.

August 25, 2021

Person-Centered Guidelines for Preserving Family Presence in Challenging Times.

June 10, 2020

National drug shortages worsen during COVID-19 crisis: proposal for a comprehensive model to monitor and address critical drug shortages.

November 4, 2020

Surgeon Scorecard.

July 22, 2015

Hamilton father misdiagnosed with lung cancer demands answers.

November 26, 2014

Physician task load and the risk of burnout among US physicians in a national survey.

December 2, 2020

Safety in Numbers: Hospital Performance on Leapfrog’s Surgical Volume Standard Based on Results of the 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Survey.

March 18, 2020

Safety Problems With Your Child's Medical Device?

July 31, 2013

How American health care killed my father.

August 26, 2009

All can be lost: the risk of putting our knowledge in the hands of machines.

December 4, 2013

‘He thought what he was doing was good for people.’ Why is it so difficult to prevent unnecessary medical procedures in the U.S. health-care system?

September 1, 2021

FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA warns about prescribing and dispensing errors resulting from brand name confusion with antidepressant Brintellix (vortioxetine) and antiplatelet Brilinta (ticagrelor).

August 12, 2015

Examining the Status of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Program.

August 10, 2022

Roxane Laboratories initiates a nationwide voluntary recall of a single manufacturing lot of Azathioprine tablets in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

July 26, 2006

Covid-19 surge could lead to another drop in patient visits, doctors fear—and more missed pediatric cancers.

December 23, 2020

Escape Room.

December 9, 2020

Hospital Preparedness for a COVID-19 Surge: Assessment Tool.

November 25, 2020

Actionable Patient Safety Solutions (APSS): Creating a Foundation for Safe and Reliable Care

January 1, 2020

The slow, troubling death of the autopsy.

October 7, 2020

Avoid punitive approach to your safety event reporting,

September 16, 2020

The Care We Need

July 8, 2020

Principles for Improving Patient Safety Measurement Webinar

March 4, 2020

Mid Staffs scandal: 10 years on, inquiry chair worries NHS staff too scared to speak up.

January 29, 2020

With Covid-19 delaying routine care, chronic disease startups brace for a slew of complications.

April 29, 2020

ACR Recommendations for the use of Chest Radiography and Computed Tomography (CT) for Suspected COVID-19 Infection.

April 1, 2020

Keeping Nursing Home Residents and Staff Safe in the Era of COVID-19.

June 3, 2020

The glaring loophole in U.S. virus response: human error.

March 18, 2020

Association of measured quality with financial health among U.S. hospitals.

May 4, 2022

FDA alerts patients and health care professionals of EpiPen auto-injector errors related to device malfunctions and user administration.

April 8, 2020

Role of artificial intelligence in patient safety outcomes: systematic literature review.

August 26, 2020

Senators threaten consequences after VA confirms 4 deaths tied to computer system tested in Spokane.

March 29, 2023

The overlooked danger of delirium in hospitals.

June 24, 2015

Why it's so easy for doctors to misdiagnose kids.

December 2, 2015

The misery of a doctor's first days.

October 14, 2015

The drawbacks of data-driven medicine.

June 26, 2013

The doctor doesn't listen to her. But the media is starting to.

August 22, 2018

The burnout crisis in American medicine.

May 30, 2018

Save a brain, make a checklist.

April 2, 2014

Rethinking hospital restraints.

September 3, 2014

Lyme disease is baffling, even to experts, but new insights are at last accumulating.

September 18, 2019

5 pandemic mistakes we keep repeating. We can learn from our failures.

March 17, 2021

Burnout, engagement, and dental errors among U.S. dentists.

December 22, 2021

Related Resources

Organisational conditions for safety management practice in homecare and nursing homes, pre-pandemic and in pandemic.

March 27, 2024

Hospitals in two states denied an abortion to a miscarrying patient. Investigators say they broke federal law.

May 31, 2023

Why do so many Black women die in pregnancy? One reason: doctors don't take them seriously.

May 31, 2023

Minnesota lets nurses practice while disciplinary investigations drag on. Patients keep getting hurt.

April 12, 2023

Healthcare-associated infections in Veterans Affairs acute-care and long-term healthcare facilities during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

April 5, 2023

Bleeding and in pain, a pregnant woman in Louisiana couldn’t get answers.

January 25, 2023

‘They can’t ignore us any more’: five women on long Covid and medical misogyny.

October 26, 2022

COVID-19 in Nursing Homes: CMS Needs to Continue to Strengthen Oversight of Infection Prevention and Control.

October 12, 2022

People of color with long COVID face uphill battle to be heard.

October 12, 2022

A California man’s ‘painful and terrifying’ road to a Monkeypox diagnosis.

August 17, 2022

June 8, 2022

The Color of Care.

May 11, 2022

Dying for Care.

March 30, 2022

COVID-19 Focused Inspection Initiative in Healthcare.

March 23, 2022

Nowhere is safe: record number of patients contracted Covid in the hospital in January.

March 2, 2022

Patient Safety Primers

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Safety of Older Adults Residing in Nursing Homes

February 24, 2022

Health care safety during the pandemic and beyond--building a system that ensures resilience.

February 23, 2022

COVID Risk In Hospitals.

January 26, 2022

How nursing homes’ worst offenses are hidden from the public.

December 22, 2021

Patients went into the hospital for care. After testing positive there for Covid, some never came out.

November 17, 2021

How to seek care for non-covid health issues during the pandemic, and why you shouldn’t delay.

September 29, 2021

Phony diagnoses hide high rates of drugging at nursing homes.

September 22, 2021

Role of nursing home quality on COVID-19 cases and deaths: evidence from Florida nursing homes.

September 22, 2021

Patient safety and ethical implications of healthcare sick leave policies in the pandemic era.

September 15, 2021

A crisis within a crisis.

September 15, 2021

'There is a real cost’: as Covid shows, barring bedside visitors from ICU deprives patients of the best care.

August 11, 2021

Machine learning is booming in medicine. It’s also facing a credibility crisis.

June 16, 2021

How medical jargon can make COVID health disparities even worse.

June 9, 2021

Cancer diagnoses delayed among prisoners in Washington state.

May 26, 2021

A crisis of undiagnosed cancers is emerging in the pandemic’s second year.

May 19, 2021

See More About The Topic

The U.S. is repeating its deadliest pandemic mistake.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Safety of Older Adults Residing in Nursing Homes

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

The U.S. is repeating its deadliest pandemic mistake.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) and Safety of Older Adults Residing in Nursing Homes

Connect With Us

Sign up for Email Updates

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue Logged In

Submit Your Innovations

Continue as a Guest

Continue logged in

New Users to the PSNet site