Effect of percentage of overlapping surgery on patient outcomes
Editor's Note In this study, led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, overlapping surgery was shown to reduce in-hospital mortality and to have similar patient safety indicators and readmission rates as nonoverlapping cases. Operative time was shown to increase with overlapping cases. A total of 87,426 cases were included…
COVID-19 national emergency ended a month early
Editor's Note President Biden, on April 10, signed a congressional resolution ending the 3-year COVID-19 national emergency a month earlier than expected, but a separate public health emergency will remain in effect until May 11, the April 10 Associated Press reports. The resolution terminates COVID-19 related waivers for federal health…
ECRI releases statement on third-party tracking by hospital websites
Editor's Note ECRI, on April 10, released a statement saying it is “deeply disturbed” by reports that nearly 99% of US hospitals have third-party tracking on their websites that transfers patient data to technology and social media companies, advertising firms, and data brokers. Besides the violation of privacy, ECRI says…
Risk for adverse outcomes in pregnant patients with COVID-19, early in pandemic
Editor's Note This study by researchers from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, finds substantial adverse maternal outcomes among pregnant patients with COVID-19 at delivery, during the early pandemic period. A total of 2,578,095 patients were analyzed. During the 9-month study period (April to December 2020), 45,425 pregnant patients…
FDA: Class I recall of certain Philips Respironics reworked DreamStation CPAP, BiPAP machines
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration, on April 7, identified the recall by Philips Respironics of certain reworked DreamStation continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bileveled positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machines as Class I, the most serious. These machines also were recalled in June 2021. The recall was initiated…
NCSBN launches new NCLEX exam
Editor's Note The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) on April 3 announced the launch of its updated licensure examination, the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) Examination, the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) April 6 reports. The exam was reportedly modified in order to better measure clinical judgment…
Virtual reality & artificial intelligence: Future of nontechnical skills training
Editor's Note Researchers led by Florida A&M University and Florida State University in Tallahassee propose multi-learner virtual reality (VR) environments assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) as effective alternatives to facility-based training for nontechnical skills. As failure to communicate is cited as the reason for 22% of preventable complications in the…
Two case studies of cross-placental COVID-19 transmission, causing brain injury
Editor's Note Researchers at UHealth—the University of Miami Health System and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine—show that, in two cases, COVID-19 breached the placenta and caused brain injury in the newborn. Both infants tested negative for the virus at birth, but had significantly elevated COVID-19 antibodies in…
The Joint Commission updates Health Care Equity Resource Center
Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on April 5, announced that it had updated its Health Care Equity Accreditation Standards & Resource Center to assist organizations in meeting their healthcare equity standards. The new resources include: Six new Snapshots (brief synopses of approaches used by other organizations) from Cook County Health…
Nonoperative vs operative management of acute appendicitis in older adults
Editor's Note This study from the University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, finds that nonoperative management of acute appendicitis was associated with reduced complications in older but not younger patients. Included in the analysis was data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s National Inpatient Sample on 474,845 patients with…