Editor's Note Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) announced July 11 that it has been designated a Health Care’s Most Wired 2017 by the American Hospital Association’s (AHA) Health Forum. Hospitals & Health Networks, an AHA publication, annually assesses the level of health information technology adoption in US hospitals and health…
Each year, the OR Manager Conference showcases the latest hybrid OR technology along with expert advice from clinicians and manufacturers. The 2017 conference (October 2-4 in Orlando, Florida) will feature an extensive exhibit and opportunities to interact with the Hybrid OR Steering Committee members (sidebar, p 15): • Monday, 2…
Between the expanding population and the increasing number of surgical procedures being performed, demand for surgical services is climbing. One study has predicted a 14% to 47% increase in surgical demand across all surgical fields by 2020. Given the high cost of operations, an efficient workflow is paramount, and there…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 28 posted a Quick Safety on daily safety briefings--a hallmark of high reliability organizations. Safety briefings--also called safety huddles, daily check-ins, or daily safety calls--are used to give keep frontline staff and leadership informed. The briefings can be used to: share issues that…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the creation of a new centralized Digital Health Unit in its Center for Devices and Radiological Health, which together with draft guidance on software as a medical device, is designed to support technological innovation and advance digital health, the June…
Editor's Note Researchers in the departments of anesthesia and biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt University have created a device that removes alarm sounds while preserving an ICU patient’s ability to hear human and environmental stimuli, notably speech. The in-ear device, which is worn by the patient, eliminates alarm sounds from the…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on June 15 issued a Safety Alert for frameless stereotaxic navigation systems because of navigational accuracy errors during surgical procedures. Some of these errors have led to patient deaths, serious or life-threatening injuries, and inaccurate, aborted, or prolonged surgical procedures. The FDA…
Editor's Note The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has started converting older, inactive paper healthcare records to electronic health records (EHRs) in an effort to reduce the amount of office space used for storage of patient records and to streamline the claims processes, the April 24 EHR intelligence reports. This…
Editor's Note The Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety, a multi-stakeholder collaborative convened and operated by ECRI Institute, has issued new safe practice recommendations for the use of health IT in improving the accuracy of patient identification. Mistaken identifications can lead to wrong patient care, improper care, or no care…
Editor's Note In this study, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers created an automated system to identify diabetic patients, detect insulin administration, check for glucose measurement, and remind anesthesiologists to check intraoperative glucose. Implementation of the automated reminder system: improved glucose monitoring from 61.6% to 87.3% of cases reduced PACU hyperglycemia…