Editor's Note In this study by Mayo Clinic researchers, two monoclonal antibodies administered separately helped prevent hospitalization in high-risk COVID-19 patients. Included in the analysis were 2,747 patients who received bamlanivimab and 849 patients who received casirivimab-imdevimab from November 19, 2020, to February 11, 2021. After 28 days, all cause…
Editor's Note In a July 14 news release, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) said the proposed Medicare physician fee schedule for CY 2022 poses a threat to surgical patient care. The proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) maintains cuts to surgical care that Congress…
Editor's Note In this study from the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, age was significantly, negatively correlated with the neutralizing antibody response to COVID-19 and the P.1 (Gamma-Brazil) variant. Of 50 individuals enrolled in the study, robust neutralizing responses were observed after 2 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on July 21 announced new revisions to its Sentinel Event definition and policy that will apply to all accreditation and certification programs, except for Health Care Staffing Services and Integrated Care certification programs, effective January 1, 2022. The revisions clarify expectations regarding an organization’s partnership…
Editor's Note This study by researchers from the UK finds that insertion and removal of supraglottic airway devices for general anesthesia do not generate aerosols and should not be designated as aerosol generating procedures (AGPs). Working in an ultraclean environment, the researchers used a highly sensitive aerosol detector to measure…
Editor's Note ECRI on July 20 announced a collaborative partnership with Nuvolo, an independent software vendor involved in cloud-based connected workplace solutions, based in Paramus, New Jersey. The partnership integrates ECRI’s standardization of medical device data with Nuvolo’s Connected Workplace for Healthcare. This automated process enables standardization of device data…
Editor's Note This study by researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern and Children’s Health, Dallas, finds that children with nonsevere COVID-19 had higher rates of respiratory complications during and after general anesthesia than controls, but severe morbidity was rare and there were no deaths. A total of 99 patients…
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced the release of the second version of its Optimal Resources for Children’s Surgical Care manual on July 14 at the 2021 ACS Quality and Safety Conference. The updated standards include principles on hospital resources, quality improvement and safety processes, data collection,…
Editor's Note In this study, researchers from David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, quantify the current representatives of the US healthcare workforce and changes during the past 2 decades. Among the findings: The percentage of White men among physicians…
Editor's Note New provisional data released July 14 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that more than 93,331 people died from drug overdoes in the US last year. The nearly 30% rise from 2019 was mostly triggered by COVID-19 pandemic-related stressors, treatment inaccessibility, and proliferation of…
