Editor's Note In this study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, researchers developed, validated, and tested an algorithm called, “Discharge Referral Expert System for Care Transitions (DIRECT),” which helped clinicians identify patients most in need of post-acute care (PAC) and lowered readmission rates. The researchers conducted a 4-month…

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Editor's Note Healthcare accreditation organization DNV GL Healthcare on November 7 launched the first sterile processing program certification in the US. The program recognizes excellence in an organization’s sterile processing department within the scope of infection prevention and control, surgical services, endoscopic services, and related departments. An important part of…

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Editor's Note Excessive opioid prescribing was associated with higher postoperative opioid consumption in this study. In this analysis of 2,392 surgical patients, the quantity of opioids prescribed was significantly higher than opioid consumption, with patients reporting using only 27% of the opioids prescribed to them. Prescription size had the strongest…

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Editor's Note The Massachusetts ballot Question 1 that would have set strict limits on the number of hospital patients a nurse could care for at one time went down in defeat on November 6, the November 7 Boston Globe reports. Hospitals spent nearly $25 million to defeat the measure, more…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on November 6 released “Pioneers in Quality eCQM Proven Practices Collection: Recognizing Success 2017-2018.” The publication recognizes healthcare organizations that have successfully leveraged electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) and health information technology to drive quality improvement. Nine hospitals are featured:  BayCare Health System, Inc, Clearwater,…

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Editor's Note Survey data from thousands of nurses and patients shows that patient safety remains a serious concern and that failure to improve hospital work environments may be hampering progress, finds this study by Linda Aiken, PhD, RN, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Of 53,644…

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Editor's Note US hospitals added 13,000 jobs in October to a seasonally adjusted 5,216,100, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on November 2. That is up 106,900 more employees than a year ago. Overall, healthcare employment has increased 322,500 in the past year. The overall unemployment rate is 3.7%, matching…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration on November 5 released the guidance, “Unique Device Identification: Policy Regarding Compliance dates for Class I and Unclassified devices and Certain Devices Requiring Direct Marking,” which takes effect immediately. The new guidance includes updated Unique Device Identification (UDI) direct mark requirements and supersedes…

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Editor's Note Hospitals with high volumes of surgical aortic valve replacements (SAVRs) are more likely to be fast adopters of transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures (TAVRs), and accumulating SAVR and TAVR caseloads is associated with better survival after TAVR, this study finds. Using Medicare data on 60,538 TAVR procedures performed…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration on November 2 identified the recall by Maquet Datascope Corp/Getinge Group’s Cardiosave Hybrid and Cardiosave Rescue Intra-aortic Balloon Pumps (IABPs) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the potential for the autofill process to malfunction or fail during…

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