Editor's Note The Joint Commission on May 29 announced performance measures for two newly developed advanced Disease-Specific Care Certification programs−Acute Heart Attack Ready and Primary Heart Attack Center. The measures will go into effect July 1, 2019, for critical access hospitals and hospitals (including freestanding emergency departments) pursuing these certifications.…

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Editor's Note A new survey by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation finds that clinical and business leaders value the innovation nurses bring to their organizations, just not at the C-suite level. Clinical and business leaders ranked skills, such as “the…

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Editor's Note Regional anesthesia was not associated with decreased readmission rates and costs after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in this study. In this analysis of 138,362 privately insured TKA patients 18-64 years of age, the adjusted 90-day readmission rate was 1.8% for those who did not receive regional anesthesia compared…

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Editor's Note The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued an action guide for active shooter incidents specifically for hospitals and healthcare facilities. The action guide includes potential indicators of an individual who may become an active shooter. It also gives recommendations for staff on what they should do if…

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As part of a special series on artificial intelligence (AI), OR Manager is taking a deep dive into the many facets of this new technology and its impact on patient care. Part 1 of this introduction to the series (OR Manager, May 2019, 1, 7-11) defined several different types of…

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Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, located in Lake Forest, Illinois, has taken a giant leap in curtailing late starts in the OR. In December 2016, the facility’s on-time start percentage was only 37%. Perioperative team members dug in their heels and, by August 2017, increased their on-time starts to 77%.…

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Many experts see cardiovascular (CV) care as the next wave in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), and a hybrid office-based lab (OBL)/ASC model is gaining momentum across the country. Robert J. Zasa, MSHHA, FACMPE, president and CEO of Ambulatory Systems Development, LLC, in Incline Village, Nevada, sees the hybrid arrangement as…

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Editor's Note In this study, the use of negative pressure wound therapy resulted in a significantly lower risk of surgical site infections (SSIs) than standard surgical incision closure. A total of 123 patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy were randomized to receive either negative pressure wound therapy or a standard closure of the…

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Editor's Note Hospitals that perform better on measures to prevent postoperative complications also have better performance on measures of profitability, this study finds. Improved patient safety performance was associated with higher net patient revenue for five of seven Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures, including starting and stopping preventive antibiotics…

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Editor's Note A study published May 15 by the Leapfrog Group finds that more than 160,000 preventable deaths occur in US hospitals annually, a decline of about 56,000 from 3 years ago. The Leapfrog Group uses hospital performance on 16 patient safety measures to assign hospital grades. Of the 2,620…

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