Researchers looked at antibiotic use at neonatal intensive care units in 143 hospitals and found that none of the facilities addressed all components of the CDC's Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs, and compliance for most components was below 50%, suggesting substantial gaps between recommendations and practice. The study, reported in Pediatrics, also found that only 26% of NICU patients who received more than 48 hours of antibiotics had positive cultures.

A study in JAMA Pediatrics found that 15.6% of children who received solid organ transplants were hospitalized due to vaccine-preventable diseases within five years of the procedure, a rate 87 times greater than for the general population. Based on data for 6,980 transplant patients, 13.1% of the infection cases were acquired during transplant hospitalization, while 17% of children not infected during transplant hospitalization eventually needed ICU care due to a vaccine-preventable disease.

The Medscape National Physician Burnout, Depression & Suicide Report 2019 showed 44% of physicians overall met criteria for burnout, compared with 42% a year ago. Critical care physicians ranked 13th on the list, with 44% meeting the criteria for burnout, compared with last year when they tied with neurologists for first place at 48%.

An analysis of data from over 4,200 US hospitals found that 1 in 4 hospitals cut staff between 2015 and 2017 to ease budget pressures as a result of rising drug spending. Hospital drug spending climbed by 18.5% during the period, with costs driven mainly by high list prices and shortages of critical drugs such as saline and generic injectables.

Princeton University researchers used machine learning and data from more than 6,000 patients to create a system to reduce testing frequency and improve treatment timing in the ICU. The system, presented at the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, included blood tests to measure lactate, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen and white blood cells, which can help diagnose kidney failure and sepsis.

Deloitte researchers evaluated data from 4,500 US hospitals between 2012 and 2016 and found that adoption of data management, population health management and reporting technologies was more likely among "those that receive some fraction of their total revenue from ... quality and value contracts such as bundled payments and global risk capitation," compared with hospitals that don't receive incentives. The researchers recommend that health systems "go beyond the EHR" to focus on technologies that engage patients and providers, as well as core financial and operational applications.