US News & World Report releases Best Hospitals Honor Roll
Editor's Note The US News & World Report, on August 1, released its 2023-2024 Best Hospitals Honor Roll. Just 22 hospitals out of nearly 5,000 evaluated for the Best Hospitals rankings and ratings made the Honor Roll, which examines hospitals in more than 30 medical and surgical services. In alphabetical…
FDA: Class I recall of Baxter SIGMA Spectrum, Spectrum IQ infusion pumps
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on August 1, identified the recall by Baxter Healthcare Corporation of its SIGMA Spectrum Infusion Pump with Master Drug Library (Version 8) and Spectrum IQ Infusion System with Dose IQ Safety Software (Version 9) as Class I, the most serious. The recall…
Costs of frailty after major, elective noncardiac surgery
Editor's Note This Canadian study finds a 1.5-fold increase in costs in the year after major, elective noncardiac surgery for patients with preoperative frailty. A total of 171,576 patients (23,219 with preoperative frailty) were included in the analysis. Unadjusted costs were higher for frail patients. After adjusting for confounders, an…
Update of strategies to prevent MRSA transmission, infection in acute care hospitals
Editor's Note This expert guidance document, sponsored by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), updates the โStrategies to Prevent Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus [MRSA] Transmission and Infection in Acute Care Hospitalsโ that were published in 2014. Among the updates: Recommendations are now categorized as Essential Practices that should be…
FDA: Class I recall of GE HealthCareโs TruSignal SpO2 sensors
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on July 28, identified the recall by GE HealthCare of its TruSignal SpO2 [arterial oxygen saturation] sensors as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of issues that may reduce the amount of energy sent to the heart during…
OR Manager Conference award nominations deadline extended
Editor's Note Now more than ever is the time to recognize an exceptional leader who develops and supports their staff, fosters teamwork, takes an active role in delivering high quality patient care, and continually makes improvements and remarkable contributions. Do you know a perioperative leader who is making strides to…
University of Tennessee, Baptist Memorial Health Care pilot OR Scholars program
Editor's Note The University of Tennessee Health Science Centerโs (UTHSC) College of Nursing announced a collaboration with Baptist Memorial Health Care to pilot an Operating Room Scholars program to address the perioperative nursing shortage on July 27. โThe program will fill a critical need and has the potential to create…
Medical confidentiality breaches on Twitter by anesthesiology, intensive care HCWs
Editor's Note This French study examines the rate of medical confidentiality breaches in tweets by anesthesiology and intensive care healthcare workers (HCWs). Data from 431 tweets with photographs and 9,000 text-only tweets from 1,831 accounts were included in the analysis. Among the findings: There were 44 (10.2%) breaches of medical…
Vigorous intermittent physical activity lowers cancer risk
Editor's Note This prospective multi-institutional, multi-country study led by researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia, finds that as few as 4 to 5 minutes of vigorous intermittent physical activity (VILPA) daily is associated with a substantially lower cancer risk. VILPA refers to brief and sporadic (eg, up to 1…
FDA: Class I recall of Abiomed Impella Left Sided Blood Pumps
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on July 27, identified the recall by Abiomed of all Impella Left Sided Blood Pumps as Class I, the most serious. Abiomed is recalling the pumps because the instructions for use do not adequately address precautions to take when treating transcatheter aortic…