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April 27, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 4-21-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #16 Week Ending 4-21-18 Continued good news about Flu but there are still a couple of indicators that have yet to fall, namely, the rate of hospitalizations from flu, as well as the number of pediatric deaths.  However, for the third time in-a-row since the third week in November, influenza activity (ILI) was below the national baseline and the number of flu cases once again decreased. This chart, copied from the CDC Weekly U.S. Influenza Surveillance Report,...

April 20, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 4-14-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #15 Week Ending 4-14-18 Good news about Flu!!  For the second time in-a-row since the third week in November, influenza activity was below the national baseline and the number of flu cases once again decreased. There are still a couple of indicators that have yet to fall; namely, the rate of hospitalizations as a cumulative number and for specific age ranges, as well as the number of pediatric deaths.  Hopefully, these numbers will begin to fall...

April 20, 2018Read more...

Multi-State E. Coli Outbreak from Romaine Lettuce

IN THE NEWS Update to E. Coli Outbreak Associated with Romaine Lettuce The CDC has announced an expansion of recommendations to those previously made regarding the Yuma, Arizona regional farming area and romaine lettuce.  In the April 13, 2018 advisory, the CDC recommended avoiding precut/prepackaged romaine lettuce from the Yuma, AZ area, but stated that whole heads and hearts of romaine lettuce were OK. Further reports of cases and investigation of those cases have shown a need to amend the recommendations to include...

April 17, 2018Read more...

Multi-State E. Coli Outbreak from Romaine Lettuce

IN THE NEWS Multi-State E. Coli Outbreak from Romaine Lettuce The CDC and FDA are investigating an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. Coli O157:H7 that started with New Jersey local and state public health authorities reporting cases, but has now rapidly expanded to 11 states sharing 35 cases (click on link for details) https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-04-18/map.html.  On April 10, the first notice from the CDC announced the outbreak with 17 people infected in 7 states; so, in 3 days, the cases doubled. Talking to the...

April 13, 2018Read more...

Outbreak of Salmonella linked to Kratom

IN THE NEWS Outbreak of Salmonella linked to Kratom The CDC reported that as of April 5th, there is an ongoing outbreak of four (4) different strains of Salmonella infection, with 132 cases spread throughout the United States in 32 states.  The greatest number of cases are in the Western states of Washington (13), California (9), Oregon and Idaho, each with 8; New York has 7, Florida, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin all have 6, Virginia and North Dakota each have 5; the...

April 9, 2018Read more...
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Synthetic Opioids/Fentanyl and Fentanyl Analogs

This is a collection of resources, developed by experts and stakeholder groups, to help identify, mitigate, and manage the risk for First Responders. The documents contain tools, recommendations, charts, and other pertinent information for knowledge as well as the development of Best Practice Policies for First Responder agencies in dealing with synthetic opioids.

April 6, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-31-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #13 Week Ending 3-31-18 Although Flu and ILI was still elevated above the national baseline, they each continued to decrease last week.  Week #13 was the seventh week with decreases in FLU/ILI indicators.  The peak of the season occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18. For the first time since Flu season ramped up, the adult death rates from pneumonia and flu fell below the epidemic threshold. On average for the past five Flu seasons, ILI remained at/above...

April 2, 2018Read more...

OUTBREAK OF YELLOW FEVER IN BRAZIL

IN THE NEWS OUTBREAK OF YELLOW FEVER IN BRAZIL The CDC and ECDC (European Center for Disease Control) have posted warnings for people traveling to several states in Brazil, to be aware of an outbreak of Yellow Fever in places where it is not typically seen, including large cities and popular tourist spots. As of March 7, 2018, the Brazil Ministry of Health reported 123 confirmed new cases with 23 deaths in the past week, with a total of 864 confirmed...

March 30, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-24-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #12 Week Ending 3-24-18 Although Flu and ILI remained elevated above the national baseline respectively, they each continued to decrease last week.  Week #12 was the sixth week with decreases in FLU/ILI indicators.  The peak of the season occurred when ILI was at a high of 7.5%, which occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18. On average for the past five Flu seasons, ILI remained at/above the national baseline for 16 weeks; 20 weeks was the longest.  This...

March 23, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-17-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #11 Week Ending 3-17-18 Although Flu and ILI is still fairly widespread and above the national baseline, respectively, Week #11 was the fifth week with significant decreases in most flu indicators.  The peak of the season was when ILI was at a high of 7.5%, which occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18.  On average for the past five Flu seasons, ILI has remained at/above the national baseline for 16 weeks; 20 weeks is the longest.  This...

March 16, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-10-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #10 Week Ending 3-10-18 Although Flu and ILI is still fairly widespread and above the national baseline, respectively, Week #10 was the fourth week with significant decreases in most flu indicators.  The peak of the season was when ILI was at a high of 7.5%, which occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18.  On average for the past five Flu seasons, ILI has remained at/above the national baseline for 16 weeks; 20 weeks is the longest.  This...

March 9, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 3-3-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #9 Week Ending 3-3-18 Although Flu and ILI are still fairly widespread and above the national baseline, respectively, Week #9 was the third week with significant decreases in most flu indicators. The peak of the season was when ILI was at a high of 7.5%, which occurred during Week #5, ending 2/3/18. The one indicator that showed increases in all the reported ages was in hospitalizations for Flu and Pneumonia. This indicator should...

March 9, 2018Read more...
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Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths Within Communities – A Quality Improvement Perspective

Check out the new publication on the role of EMS in addressing the opioid epidemic. It includes an article by our Improvement Guide, Mike Taigman on using quality improvement principles in Deming's for lenses of Profound Knowledge to decrease deaths and improve recovery for people dealing with opioid addiction: Read the Full Article Here.

February 23, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 2-17-2018

Influenza (FLU) Update for Week #7 Week Ending 2-17-18 The CDC reported that although there were multiple indicators suggesting that the flu season has hopefully peaked, flu activity is still widespread throughout the United States and, ILI, although lower, remains higher than the peaks of ILI activity in previous flu seasons. Diagnosed flu cases have also decreased slightly. Hospitalizations for this flu season are still outpacing those of the 2014-15 flu season which was considered highly severe and...

February 13, 2018Read more...

MIDDLE EAST RESPIRATORY SYNDROME (MERS)

Download the below information in PDF form MERS is considered an emerging disease, caused by a novel virus (one that has not been identified before), that was first identified in September of 2012.  It is caused by a coronavirus, the same type of virus that caused SARS and about 20% of all colds.  Although much has been learned about it since it was first diagnosed in a patient, there are still significant gaps in that knowledge These gaps include how it...

February 9, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 2-03-2018

Week ending 2-3-18 The CDC reported that influenza activity (diagnosed flu and Influenza-Like-Illness) increased once again.  Levels have met or exceeded flu and ILI markers from flu seasons over the last decade, including the 2009 Pandemic of H1N1.  Although Week #5 is the 11th week of substantial flu activity, and flu activity would normally have peaked by now, that is not the case and the CDC suggests that flu activity may go on for as long as 20 weeks. The only...

February 5, 2018Read more...
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New EMS1 Column Post by Mike Taigman – Q&A: How can leaders identify and help EMS providers who need support?

Read the latest post in the new Paramedic Chief column via EMS1, "Better EMS Performance" led by our own Improvement Guide, Mike Taigman. In this new column, Mike and our FirstWatch team along with our customers and colleagues will share actionable strategies, concepts and ideas to make real improvements. This column draws from Learning Organizations, Systems Thinking, Six Sigma, Lean Thinking, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and others you will not need to have a black belt to put these ideas...

February 2, 2018Read more...

Influenza Update Week Ending 1-27-2018

Week ending 1-27-18 The CDC reported that influenza (Flu) activity, including diagnosed flu and Influenza-Like-Illness (ILI), increased again;  there was no indication that flu/ILI was waning.  All but two states, Hawaii and Oregon reported widespread flu activity.  There was an increase in the number of states that reported high ILI levels again, nearing the levels seen during the 2009 Pandemic.  The rate of hospitalizations for this flu season is greater than that seen during the most recent severe flu season of...