Editor's Note The success rates of pediatric kidney transplants have significantly improved over the past 50 years, with young children now experiencing better long-term transplant success than adults, this study finds. Of 1,056 pediatric kidney transplant recipients analyzed, 85% were alive at 1 year after surgery 50 years ago, compared…

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Editor's Note An executive order by President Donald Trump that freezes new regulations has pushed back implementation of new and expanded Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) bundled payment models by 60 days, the February 20 Home Health Care News reports. Mixed feelings continue in the healthcare industry as…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 24 announced that Avella Specialty Pharmacy of Houston is recalling all unexpired sterile injectable products labeled “latex free” that were produced at Advanced Pharma’s Houston location between September 1, 2016 and February 16, 2017. Avella and Advanced Pharma have been…

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Editor's Note In this study from the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, major intraoperative adverse events were independently associated with a two-fold increase in readmissions. Of 9,274 surgical procedures analyzed, 921 resulted in readmission. Of these, 183 had confirmed intraoperative adverse events, 73 of which were major events. Procedures with major…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 22 announced that recent changes had been made to simplify and streamline the accreditation post-survey process and decision rules. Among the changes: An organization with an accredited with follow-up decision will receive full accreditation once it has successfully submitted evidence of standards compliance.…

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Editor's Note Implementation of a Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) program for patients undergoing ambulatory laparoscopic cholecystectomy in a Kaiser Permanente practice model was associated with significantly reduced length of stay and unplanned hospital admission in this study. The analysis included 878 patients in the preimplementation period and 1,082 in the…

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Editor's Note The level of emotional intelligence among nurse managers depends on years of experience and postgraduate degree, this study finds. Nurse managers with less than 2 years of experience had statistically significant lower “using emotions” branch score and strategic emotional intelligence. Those with masters’ degrees in nursing scored significantly…

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Editor's Note In this study, hospitals reduced costs associated with percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) when cardiologists performed the procedures through the radial artery and discharged patients on the same day. The analysis of 280,000 Medicare patients found that an average cost of $13,389 for the radial artery approach with same-day…

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Editor's Note Researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M), Ann Arbor, have invented a new $500 surgical instrument that is vying to replace the $2 million deVinci robot for minimally invasive surgery. FlexDex, a mechanical platform that mounts to the surgeon’s arm, enables the tip of an instrument to mimic…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced February 22 that it had updated its sentinel event statistics through the end of 2016. Of 824 events reviewed, unintended retention of a foreign object topped the list at 120. Wrong-patient, wrong-site, or wrong-procedure was second at 104 events, and operative/postoperative complication was seventh…

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