Category Archives: Uncategorized

Covering the reasons why hospitals struggle to retain nurses

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Photo by RODNAE Productions via pexels.

The COVID pandemic drew public attention to an issue already well known in health care circles: the challenges hospitals face in retaining their nursing staff, which can affect medical care. Research shows lower nurse-patient ratios mean better patient outcomes, journalist Sarah DiGregorio explained in a Sept. 28 AHCJ webinar. DiGregorio reviewed some of the key research she found in reporting for her forthcoming book, “Taking Care: The Revolutionary Story of Nursing,” due out in May. 

To help reporters dig into this issue, this blog post contains a brief background section and then provides links and summaries of a few studies and then a resources section.

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Kerry Dooley Young (@kdooleyyoung) is AHCJ's core topic leader on patient safety. She has written extensively about the Food and Drug Administration, medical research, health policy and quality measurements. Her work has appeared in Medscape Medical News, Congressional Quarterly/CQ Roll Call and Bloomberg News.

Resources for covering the 2022-23 flu season

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Photo by Polina Tankilevitch: via pexels

It may seem a bit like the boy who cried wolf, but public health officials are once again urging the public to be concerned about a “twindemic” of COVID-19 and flu this coming winter.

The reason: A combination of a tough flu season in the southern hemisphere, the end of pandemic social distancing and masking behaviors, and the potential for another SARS-CoV-2 variant, experts say.

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Managing Editor Erica Tricarico is a graduate of Howard University and the master’s program in journalism at CUNY. Tricarico comes to AHCJ from MJH Life Sciences in Cranbury, N.J., where she managed an editorial team producing content on animal care. Before that, she was a freelance health care reporter for Everyday Health.

Why hospital charity care requires more intensive coverage

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Multiple reports published this week show why health care journalists need to spend more time covering the charity care that nonprofit hospitals are required to deliver to patients but mostly fail to provide.

Each report cited below outlines how to cover this important story on hospital care and how the nation’s health care system so often fails to deliver equitable care to low-income Americans.

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Joseph Burns (@jburns18), an independent journalist who resides in Brewster, Massachusetts, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform. He welcomes questions and suggestions and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.

Libraries as a mental health haven?

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Several years ago, I recall talking to a New York friend about how awestruck I was that my hometown library had put out a welcome mat, if you will, to homeless people. 

‘As long as you’re not a disruption, the librarians are cool with you being there. That would never happen in New York.’ I’d said that of the Central Arkansas Public Library’s main branch, one of my favorite haunts (especially now that I spend more time in my southern home than my northern one). 

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Katti Gray (@kattigray) is AHCJ's core topic leader for behavioral and mental health. A former Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism Fellow, Gray is providing resources to help AHCJ members expand their coverage of mental health amid ongoing efforts to de-stigmatize mental illness and to place mental health care on par with all health care.

New report looks at strategies to support family caregivers

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The Administration for Community Living’s (ACL) new groundbreaking National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, marks the first time the federal government has collaborated with the private sector to address the longstanding national need for a comprehensive system of family caregiver support.

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Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.