Background: Japan has the high incidence of tuberculosis with the rapid population aging in developed county. In acute care hospital, delaying in respiratory isolation for tuberculosis can cause serious hospital-acquired infections and subsequent delay in the initiation of treatment, which might be poor prognosis for not only the patient but also the around medical providers. [...]

Background: Hospitalized patients placed on contact, droplet, or respiratory isolation due to a carrier state or infection with resistant or highly communicable organisms report higher rates of anxiety and loneliness and have fewer physician encounters, room entries, vital sign records, physician and nursing notes in the chart. For these reasons, it has been hypothesized that [...]

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically altered how clinicians care for hospitalized patients in the setting of a highly contagious respiratory disease. Changes seen across hospitals include implementation of medical distancing guidelines (i.e. reduced in-person patient contact) and creation of respiratory isolation units (RIUs) for patients with COVID-19. While medical distancing has [...]

Background: Social isolation and loneliness (SI+L), two largely silent social determinants of health (SDOH), are associated with negative health outcomes such as the increased risk of cardiovascular disease, higher rates of depression, increased hospital readmissions, and increased use of healthcare services. SI+L are also common, with one in five US adults reporting feelings of SI [...]

Background: Social isolation (SI) is a largely silent and unrecognized social determinant of health that has negative health outcomes, including increased mortality, depression, hospital readmissions, and emergency room visits. In addition, a recent study revealed that SI and loneliness (L) are self-reported as often as food and housing insecurity. While hospitals readily work on food [...]

Background: It has long been established that a critical aspect of high-quality patient care is patient-physician communication.1,2 There can be a variety of potential barriers to this communication, and one such barrier might be the use of contact isolation. Indeed, studies have shown that contact isolation does pose the risk of reducing face-to-face time between [...]

Background: Social isolation is associated with various adverse health outcomes, including an increased risk of chronic diseases, higher mortality rates, higher healthcare utilization, and costs. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has identified social isolation as an emerging public health concern. However, there is limited data on the factors linked to perceived social [...]