Editor's Note Overall US spending on healthcare grew 5.3%, and per-capita spending grew 4.5% in 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid reports. The share of gross domestic product allotted to healthcare spending was 17.5%, up from 17.3% in 2013. The increase in spending was primarily driven by coverage expansion…

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Editor's Note In this study, a supplemental alert for severe intraoperative hypotension did not reduce the duration of hypotension or hospitalization. Because intraoperative hypotension is associated with complications that might be ameliorated by earlier intervention, researchers randomized 1,598 patients to hypotension alerts and 1,567 to no alerts. The median time…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on December 7 categorized the recall of Inspirtion LS, 5i, and 7i ventilator systems manufactured before January 21, 2015, by eVent Medical (Lake Forest, California) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because a faulty switch on the ventilators’ power…

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Editor's Note The Leapfrog Group’s annual awards on hospital quality and patient safety recognized 98 top facilities for 2015. Out of the 98 facilities honored, 12 were children’s hospitals, 24 were rural hospitals, and 63 were urban hospitals. California, Massachusetts, and Maine had the most top hospitals on the list.…

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Editor's Note Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) are the main anesthesia providers ensuring patient access to anesthesia care in lower-income areas where patients are more likely to be uninsured, unemployed, and/or Medicaid eligible, this study finds. Anesthesiologists are more closely aligned with counties that have higher income populations. Lessening restrictions…

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Editor's Note Surgical unit safety culture was significantly associated with lower colon surgical site infection (SSI) rates in this study led by Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH, professor of surgery, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. Dimensions of safety culture that were linked with lower SSI rates, included: teamwork across units organizational…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission and AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks) have announced a partnership to provide a joint hospital certification program for patient blood management. The voluntary certification will be available in 2016 and is based on the AABB Standards for a Patient Blood…

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Editor's Note New clinical practice guidelines from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons recommend the use of arteries from the chest and forearm rather than using veins from the leg for coronary artery bypass grafting. The left internal thoracic artery is considered the gold standard conduit for coronary bypass and has…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists on December 7 released a new resource for hospitals, physicians, and OR personnel—the Operating Room Mass Casualty Management checklist. The tool helps anesthesiologists and OR personnel optimize their response and better manage the flow of patient care during mass casualty events. The checklist…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on December 7 announced a new Standards BoosterPak on high-level disinfection and sterilization. A Standards BoosterPak is a searchable document that provides detailed information about a standard that has been associated with a high volume of inquiries or non-compliance scores. The goal of the new…

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