Editor’s Note ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) every year compiles and unveils a list of the top 10 patient safety concerns affecting the healthcare industry. The report highlights issues what healthcare leaders should focus on within their own organizations and opportunities to address preventable harm. The…

Read More

Editor's Note Successful use of augmented reality in a cardiac ablation procedure holds additional promise for training as well as more advanced OR applications, according to a February 29 report from Stanford Medicine. During ablation, a treatment for heart arrythmias, surgeons typically refer to as many as eight screens depicting…

Read More

Editor's Note Spine surgeons are sounding the alarm about high numbers of unnecessary fusion surgeries, according to a March 5 report in Becker’s Spine Review. Unnecessary surgeries refer to any surgical intervention that is not needed or in the patient’s best interest. A recent report from Forbes finds that 50%…

Read More

Editor's Note A medical device developed by researchers at Northwestern University and Washington University School of Medicine could enable clinicians to monitor the health of a patient’s organs following surgery. The findings appeared in the journal Science on March 7.  Patients who undergo gastrointestinal surgeries—including pancreatic surgery—can develop anastomotic leaks…

Read More

Editor's Note Patients with a history of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a higher risk of delirium after high-complexity surgeries but not after those of moderate complexity, according to findings published in the March issue of Anesthesia and Analgesia.   The study included 46,352 hospital patients older than 60 years who…

Read More

Editor's Note Patient engagement technologies (PETs) reduced length of stay (LOS), complication rates, and readmission rates among patients in a study published February 16 in the American Journal of Surgery. The retrospective cohort study consisted of more than 400 patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery from 2018 to 2022. Approximately 9…

Read More

Editor's Note A new Alabama law provides civil and criminal immunity for providers and patients of in vitro fertilization (IVF) services, the Associated Press reported March 7. Last month, the Alabama Supreme Court effectively ruled that frozen embryos are people with a constitutional right to life, casting doubt on the…

Read More

Editor's Note Compared with standard wound dressings, single-use negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) devices can reduce the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) in at-risk patients with closed surgical incisions across a range of surgical specialties, according to a data review highlighted in the February issue of the American Journal…

Read More

Editor's Note Emergency departments (EDs) that see more young patients tend to deliver more timely diagnoses than those that see fewer young patients, where diagnosis is more likely to be delayed. The findings appeared February 12 study in JAMA pediatrics. The cohort study examined data from January 2015 to December…

Read More

Editor's Note Divisive cultural issues such as abortion, gender-related care, and disagreements over the COVID-19 pandemic will "amplify the health care sector's visibility as a potential target for attack" by domestic extremists, according to a March 4 ABC News report on a confidential memo issued by the Department of Homeland…

Read More