Paul Govern

May 7, 2020

Team to test app for improving HIV care for new mothers in South Africa

As South Africans with HIV move around the country, there is a risk they will disengage from the health care system or otherwise become lost to follow-up care.

By Paul Govern
May 6, 2020

New rule outlines when to challenge a penicillin allergy

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than 1% of the population is truly allergic to penicillin. The rest were never allergic to begin with or have outgrown their allergy — an estimated 80% of people with penicillin allergy lose their sensitivity to the drug within 10 years.

By Paul Govern
May 4, 2020

VUMC builds a service line around care of COVID-19 patients

Care of COVID-19 patients has led to swift establishment of a COVID service line at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, complete with the institutional infrastructure, planning and multi-disciplinary coordination implied by the service line designation.

By Paul Govern
April 30, 2020

VUMC adopts new N95 sterilization method

Vanderbilt University Medical Center is switching to hydrogen peroxide vapor for sterilization of the white bulbous N95 facemask-respirators used by health care workers to protect against COVID-19.

By Paul Govern
April 23, 2020

Fewer accidents, social distancing spur drop in trauma volumes

Compared to last April, through April 19 the adult trauma service at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is on track to admit 65% fewer patients from roadway accidents, including motor vehicle accidents, motorcycle accidents and pedestrians struck by autos.

By Paul Govern
April 23, 2020

VUMC team creates COVID-19 research registry

Out of the electronic health records (EHRs) of patients seen at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a team in the Department of Biomedical Informatics is creating a COVID-19 patient registry as a platform for research.

By Paul Govern
April 20, 2020

Damage, disruption, delirium

New findings suggest that treatments that decrease oxidative damage might help with postoperative delirium that occurs in up to 30% of cardiac surgery patients.
By Paul Govern
April 17, 2020

Cross-training of employees crucial to VUMC virus efforts

In late March, in preparation for a patient surge and employee absenteeism due to COVID-19, the emergency command center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center asked for a system-wide labor pool to be set up to allow quick and agile redeployment of people and expertise across the institution.
By Paul Govern
April 16, 2020

Food Services makes adjustments as part of virus response

Stop by the Courtyard Café at Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital and you’ll see that COVID-19 has wrought some obvious changes.
By Paul Govern
April 10, 2020

VUMC adult hospital prepared for surge of COVID-19 admissions

As of April 9, Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital (VUAH) had admitted 79 patients with COVID-19, 55 of those admitted had subsequently been discharged, and three patient had died. Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital had admitted 10 patients with COVID-19, none had died, and one of those admitted had subsequently been discharged.
By Paul Govern
April 9, 2020

Surveillance key to monitoring exposed employees

Medical surveillance by the Occupational Health Clinic is essential to the COVID-19 response at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
By Paul Govern
April 9, 2020

VUMC study named as JAMA Surgery’s top paper

The world’s No.1 ranked surgery journal, JAMA Surgery, has announced that a June 2019 study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was the journal’s top paper of the year as measured by Altmetric Attention Score.
By Paul Govern