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The original item was published from 10/6/2017 6:00:31 PM to 12/7/2017 12:00:02 AM.

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Brookside Care Center News

Posted on: October 6, 2017

[ARCHIVED] Making a Difference

The following is an email our Director of Nursing, Barbara Beardsley, BSN, RN, received earlier this month showing how Brookside makes a difference beyond Kenosha County.

Dear Barbara Beardsley:

During the 2013-14 flu season, Brookside Care Center was among more than 800 sites participating in a national study comparing high- and standard-dose flu vaccines among residents over age 65.

Thanks to your participation, the results are now published in Lancet Respiratory Medicine (citation below). Here are the highlights: 

• 823 Medicare-certified nursing facilities housing 92,000 residents participated; the largest U.S. nursing home study to date

• Facilities were assigned either the standard- or high-dose vaccine for residents over the age of 65, and standard dose for others 

• Residents in facilities giving high-dose vaccine had less hospitalization for respiratory, cardiac, and other diagnoses

• Hospitalization for respiratory illness was reduced by 12.7%

• Hospitalization for all causes was reduced by 8.5%

[Citation: Gravenstein S and Davidson HE et al. Comparative effectiveness of high-dose versus standard-dose influenza vaccination on numbers of US nursing home residents admitted to hospital: a cluster-randomised trial. Lancet Respir Med. 2017;5(9):738-746]

More than 4 million adults in the US over age 65 get flu every year, costing ~$8.3 billion. Lower respiratory tract infections lead as the cause of infection-related hospitalizations. Nursing home residents, as you know, are older and frailer than those able to live in the community. Primary prevention with flu vaccine can reduce costs and maintain health, key elements of care quality.

Thank you for your role in helping identify the interventions that provide quality care and maximum value.

Links to some of the media coverage about this study are on the Insight Therapeutics website (www.insighttherapeutics.com), where you can also sign up to be notified of future research opportunities.

Best regards,

Stefan Gravenstein, MD, MPH, Principal Investigator, Brown University

H. Edward Davidson, PharmD

Lisa Han, MPH

Insight Therapeutics, LLC

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