Editor's Note Sentara Healthcare (Norfolk, Virginia) is using a sepsis prediction tool to help alert physicians and nurses when a patient is at risk of developing the infection, the August 26 Reading Eagle reports. The tool uses artificial intelligence (AI) to run some 4,500 pieces of patient data through an…
Editor's Note All levels of nurse leaders are at risk of burnout and must garner compassion satisfaction from different sources, including peer and staff interactions, this study finds. The Professional Quality of Life scale was given to 672 nurse leaders at 29 hospitals in one health system, and 16 leaders…
Editor's Note A machine learning algorithm based on data from the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry accurately identified patients at risk for bleeding during or after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery, the August 23 Health IT Analytics reports. Researchers developed the platform using a risk spectrum…
Editor's Note This review article finds that surgical smoke is dangerous, but the severity of the risk has yet to be been determined. Therefore, no safe level is known. Though numerous studies have been performed on the chemical composition of surgical smoke, the components remain unclear. The variability is likely…
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on August 21 identified Medline Industries’ recall of Centurion Medical Products’ Primary Warmer Pack containing the Vyaire Medical enFlow fluid warming system disposable cartridge as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because the cartridge may elute aluminum into infused…
Editor's Note This study finds that the amount of opioids prescribed for patients after cardiothoracic surgery has a direct relationship with the risk for opioid dependence and persistent opioid use several months after surgery. Of nearly 25,000 opioid-naïve Medicare patients analyzed, 15.7% of patients who had lung surgery and 12.5%…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on August 22 identified the recall by Edwards Lifesciences of all lots of its SAPIEN 3 Ultra Delivery System as Class I, the most serious. The delivery system is part of the Edwards SAPIEN 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve System. The recall was initiated…
Editor's Note Opioid prescriptions for patients having common outpatient surgical procedures at a large university hospital in Florida were substantially reduced within 6 months after implementation of state legislation limiting the duration of opioid prescriptions, this study finds. Of 1,467 surgical patients included in the study: The proportion receiving opioid…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 21 posted a reminder for accredited hospitals with electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) requirements that they must submit CY 2019 eCQM data via the Direct Data Submission (DDS) Platform. The deadline to onboard to the DDS Platform is December 20, 2019, and the…
Editor's Note Unclear policies and urgent competing responsibilities in the OR create stress, suggesting that the environment is the primary contributor to disruptive behavior by the surgeon, this study finds. Of 314 reports of disruptive behavior from surgical, medical, and other specialties, which included both the reporter account and involved…