A new study from Penn Nursing’s Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) published in Nursing Outlook finds that nurses’ assessments of their staffing adequacy is a more accurate predictor of patient safety on medical surgical units than traditional administrative data. The research, which analyzed data from over 1,200 nursing units across the United States, highlights a critical distinction in how staffing should be measured and managed across different hospital settings.

Results of the single-center, phase 2 CAR-PRISM (PRecision Intervention Smoldering Myeloma) clinical trial, the first to investigate Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy in patients with high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma, showed that all 20 patients were negative for minimal residual disease (MRD) within two months of treatment and remained MRD-negative after a median of 15.3 months of follow-up, and none experienced high-grade side effects, according to results presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2026, held April 17-22, in San Diego, Calif.

Did you know that cancers in the head and neck area, including the mouth, throat, nasal cavity and voice box, account for about 4% of all new cancers diagnosed in U.S. each year? Major risk factors include smoking cigarettes as well as the use of smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco and vaping) and alcohol. People with the human papilloma virus (HPV) are also at higher risk of developing head and neck cancer. Symptoms of the disease include a lump or sore in the mouth that doesn’t go away, difficulty swallowing and swelling of the chin or around the jawbone. Although there is no standard screening for head and neck cancers, dentists usually check the mouth for signs of cancer during routine appointments. The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and the Alliance Foundation Trials have several active trials specifically poised to help people with head and neck cancers.