Editor's Note Though US hospitals are making gains in the fight against healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, too many patients continue to get these infections, according to a Vital Signs report released March 3 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Among the findings in the report:…

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Editor's Note Total hips can be performed safely and effectively on an outpatient basis, finds a study presented March 3 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. The analysis included 549 patients who had mini-posterior arthroplasties at an ASC from 2008 to 2014 and were discharged…

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Editor's Note If all total knee replacements were performed at high-volume hospitals, it could save the US healthcare system between $2.5 and $4 billion annually by 2030, finds a study presented March 4 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. In this study of nearly 90,000…

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Editor's Note Working 46 hours per week or more increases the long-term risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), this study finds. Beginning at 46 hours, increasing work hours were progressively associated with increased risk of CVD (ie, angina, coronary disease, heart failure, heart attack, high blood pressure, or stroke). Compared to…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 1 updated its Prevention Status Reports, which rank the biggest public health issues in the US. Among the 10 most important health problems are: healthcare-associated infections heart disease and stroke nutrition, physical activity, and obesity HIV. The Prevention Status…

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Editor's Note Hypothermia is associated with an increased risk for surgical site infections (SSIs) in patients having surgery to repair a hip fracture, finds this study presented March 2 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Of 1,525 patients analyzed: hypothermia occurred in 13.2% of cases…

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Editor's Note Obtaining organs from deceased donors in a freestanding facility dedicated to organ recovery costs much less and leads to higher numbers of transplantable organs, this study finds. Researchers evaluated 6 years of data from the nation’s first freestanding organ recovery facility located in St Louis and owned and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 2 issued an update of its sentinel event statistics through the end of 2015. Of the 936 sentinel events reviewed, the most frequently reported was unintended retention of a foreign body at 116 events, followed by wrong-patient, wrong-site, or wrong-procedure at 111. Operative/postoperative…

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Editor's Note Readmissions after total hip and knee replacements are associated with nurse staffing levels and poor nurse work environments, finds this study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia. The study analyzed data on more than 112,000 Medicare patients in nearly 500 hospitals. Adjusting for patient and…

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Editor's Note Implementing bundled payments for Medicare patients having total joint replacements resulted in improved quality of care and outcomes and reduced costs, finds this study presented March 2 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. As a pilot site for Medicare’s Bundled Payment for Care…

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