Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on April 13, updated prescribing information for all opioid pain medications, including requiring all packaging to have updated labeling and safety information. This includes stating that: for both immediate-release (IR) and extended release/long acting (ER/LA) opioid pain medications, the risk of overdose…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on April 12, issued a Safety Communication recommending that consumers, healthcare providers, and facilities not use certain surgical N95 respirators and to use caution with certain surgical masks and pediatric face masks, all manufactured by O&M Halyard. The FDA says it is…

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Editor's Note In this study, led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, overlapping surgery was shown to reduce in-hospital mortality and to have similar patient safety indicators and readmission rates as nonoverlapping cases. Operative time was shown to increase with overlapping cases. A total of 87,426 cases were included…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration, on April 7, identified the recall by Philips Respironics of certain reworked DreamStation continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bileveled positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machines as Class I, the most serious. These machines also were recalled in June 2021. The recall was initiated…

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Editor's Note This study from Stanford University finds that anesthesia residents who worked night float call rotations slept the same number of hours, but had less REM sleep, were more fatigued, and had less positive affect. All of these resolved a week after their rotation except fatigue. A total of…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on April 4, released its Sentinel Event Data 2022 Annual Review, which covered serious adverse events from January 1 through December 31, 2022. There were 1,441 sentinel events reported in 2022, a 19% increase over 2021, and a 78% increase over 2020, with COVID-19 continuing…

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Editor's Note This randomized, controlled study led by researchers from the University of Colorado, Denver, and the Mayo Clinic, finds that 6 months of professional coaching can reduce burnout, improve quality of life, and increase resilience among surgeons. A total of 80 surgeons were included in the analysis. At the…

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Editor's Note The World Health Organization on March 30 reported that although there is an overall downward trend in COVID-19 cases and deaths, 21 countries are reporting increases in cases of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.16, particularly India. XBB.1.16 has a similar profile to XBB.1.5, which is the dominant strain in the…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 31 identified the recall by Datascope/Getinge of certain Cardiosave Hybrid and Rescue Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps (IABPs) for risk of unexpected shutdown after PCBA communication loss as Class I, the most serious. On March 17, the FDA also identified Datascope/Getinge’s recall…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), on March 29, issued a news report urging the public to learn to recognize and respond to an opioid overdose, now that the Food and Drug Administration has approved naloxone for sale over the counter. Naloxone, which is commonly sold as a…

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