Editor's Note Use of an Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS) program in total hip and total knee patients reduced length of stay by 1 day in this study. Short term complications and readmission rates were similar for patients in the ERAS program and those managed in a traditional perioperative care…

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Editor's Note Over the next 10 years, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will cost $1.34 trillion, which is $136 billion more than the Congressional Budget Office predicted a year ago, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The hike in costs is mostly a result of higher-than-expected enrollment in the expanded Medicaid…

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Editor's Note Surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University hospitals will transplant kidneys from donors with hepatitis C virus (HCV) as part of a clinical trial this spring, STAT news reports. The recipients will be given a 12-week course of antiviral therapy after the transplant in hopes…

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Editor's Note In this study of surgical residents after implementation of the 80-hour workweek in 2003, researchers found a significant increase in operative variability, including an increase in the variability of total major cases between the resident completing the most and fewest cases per class. This may suggest a growing disparity…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 21 announced the recall by Hospira, Inc (Lake Forest, Illinois) of one lot of 8.4% Sodium Bicarbonate Injection, USP (NDC: 0409-6625-02, Lot 56-148-EV, Expiry August 1, 2017). The recall was initiated because of the presence of a particulate in a single-dose…

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Editor's Note Peripheral nerve blocks were associated with fewer complications and lower costs in total hip and knee patients in this study, which was presented March 23 at the annual meeting of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine. In this analysis of more than 1 million patients…

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Editor's Note Evaluation of patient age and American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status as variables can help OR managers better predict turnaround times, which can facilitate scheduling, this study finds. Researchers developed models of turnaround times of 13, 632 OR procedures with respect to multiple variables including surgical schedule,…

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Editor's Note Patient safety in hospitals improved from 2010 to 2014 as the overall rate of hospital-acquired conditions (HACS) declined 17%, according to the new National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Patients Safety Chartbook from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The overall HAC rate declined from 145/1,000…

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Editor's Note The number of physicians that participated in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) “meaningful use” program dropped from 228,662 in 2014 to 226,514 in 2015, and hospital participation declined from 4,177 to 4,071, Bloomberg BNA reports. The drop in participation occurred despite repeated efforts by CMS…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 21 announced a proposal to ban most powdered gloves in the US. The proposed ban applies to powdered surgeons' gloves, powdered patient examination gloves, and absorbable powder for lubricating surgeons' gloves. Powdered gloves pose an unreasonable and substantial risk of…

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