Featuring hospital and health care headlines from the media and the web.
Iowa news
Finley Hospital in Dubuque to restrict visitors starting next week
Finley Hospital in Dubuque will begin restricting visitors because of an increase in COVID-19 cases. UnityPoint announced that starting next week it would not allow visitors to the hospital. Exceptions can be made for the end of life care, childbirth and where the visitor is essential to the patient’s well being. This comes as MercyOne in Waterloo returned to its policy of no visitors in it’s northeast Iowa facilities on Friday. (KCRG)
Lee County native spent 40 days on a ventilator and lived to tell her COVID-19 journey
Lee County Native, Kim Armstrong, began her COVID-19 journey with flulike symptoms. Later, she was placed in a medically induced coma and placed on a ventilator for 40 days. On April 10, her journey began. July 3, she headed home, COVID-19-free, to Donnellson, Iowa. On April 10th, Steve Armstrong took his wife to the emergency room in Mount Pleasant. Little did they know, Kim would spend nearly 100 days in hospital care. (KHQA)
UI Health Care sees rise in employee COVID-19 cases
As the number of people with confirmed COVID-19 cases in Johnson County rises, University of Iowa Health Care is also seeing additional cases among its employees. Employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 are sent home to isolate until their symptoms subside. They are not allowed to return to work until at least 10 days have passed since the symptoms first appeared. UIHC is encouraging those who work directly with COVID-19 cases to avoid congregating with others, especially those who also are frequently exposed to the virus. (KWWL)
National news
Telehealth: creating a safe and convenient future of health care
In the early 1990s, we heard claims of the World Wide Web changing the future of communication. The internet was a novelty, newly introduced to the world, and just as with any other innovation, people were a little apprehensive. I don’t suppose we can point to a particular event or time in the past three decades when the internet became an integral part of the way we communicate with each other. Today, it’s as easy as pressing a button on your phone because that is all it takes! It’s one tap to FaceTime, or to jump on Zoom for meetings, or to catch up on the events of the world. (MedCity News)
My gym is reopening. Is it safe to work out there?
Exercise is good for physical and mental health, but with coronavirus cases surging across the country, exercising indoors with other people could increase your chance of infection. So, as gyms reopen across the country, here are some things to consider before heading for your workout. (Iowa Public Radio)
Hospital ratings often depend more on nice rooms than on health care
A study of 50,000 patients throughout the United States showed that those who were the most satisfied with their care (the top quartile) were 26% more likely to be dead six months later than patients who gave lower ratings to their care. The study, “The Cost of Satisfaction,” appeared in JAMA Internal Medicine. Oh, the irony. The most-satisfied patients not only died in greater numbers but racked up higher costs along the way. Plus, health care providers receiving the top satisfaction scores were rewarded with higher reimbursements by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which administers the patient survey. (Washington Post)