Editor's Note Joint Commission data on 9,119 incidents reviewed from 2004 through the second quarter of 2015 show that 9,384 patients have been affected by adverse events, with 5,383 (57.4%) resulting in death, 847 (9%) in permanent loss of function, and 2,788 (29.6%) in unexpected additional care and/or psychological impact.…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration is expanding its alert for compounded or repackaged drugs stored in Becton-Dickinson (BD) syringes to include certain lots of 1 mL, 10 mL, 20 mL, and 30 mL general use syringes and BD oral syringes. The FDA’s original alert included only 3 mL…

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Editor's Note Ten years after undergoing mesh-based procedures for stress urinary incontinence (SUI), 1 of every 30 women may require a second procedure for mesh removal or revision, this study finds. Patients of lower-volume surgeons had a 37% increased risk for complications. The findings support the Food and Drug Administration’s…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission is asking for comments on revisions to its National Patient Safety Goal on prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (NPSG.07.06.01). Comments will be accepted until October 14.  

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Editor's Note A trust-based accountability model that included senior hospital leadership and frontline providers provided an enabling structure to rapidly implement an integrated recovery pathway and quickly improve outcomes, value, and experience of colorectal surgical patients, in this study. The pathway included preoperative education, mechanical bowel preparation with oral antibiotics,…

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Editor's Note Between 2000 and 2010, more than 5.2 million total knee replacements were performed in the US, and the rate at which adults had their knees replaced more than doubled (from 24 per 10,000 adults to 45 per 10,000), according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National…

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Editor's Note A significant percentage of two common preoperative tests—prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT)—are unnecessary, this study finds. PT was ordered unnecessarily in 94.3% of patients and aPPT in 99.9% of patients. PT evaluates the patient’s blood clotting ability, and aPPT determines if heparin therapy is…

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Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons on September 2 announced the launch of its Surgery Career Connection, a new career center that connects surgeons across all specialties and career stages with employers offering career opportunities. Surgery Career Connection is powered by YourMembership. Among the benefits of the career center:…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced September 2 that it has made changes to its CY 2016 ORYX performance measure reporting requirements to align with changes made by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Inpatient quality Reporting Program. The changes include retirement of seven chart-abstracted measures, addition…

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Editor's Note The longer time a screening colonoscopy takes, the less risk of developing cancer within 5 years, this study finds. Patients whose screenings were performed by physicians whose average colonoscopy times lasted less than 6 minutes were twice as likely to develop colon cancer within 5 years as those…

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