Anesthesia risk alerts significantly reduce adverse events in 5 patient scenarios
Editor's Note North American Partners in Anesthesia’s (NAPA) Anesthesia Risk Alerts (ARA) program provides anesthesia clinicians with novel mitigation strategies to better manage five high-risk scenarios in the perioperative setting. Implemented in April 2019, NAPA’s nationwide healthcare partners have achieved 95% compliance screening for the scenarios and have performed secondary…
Robotic general surgery trends
Editor's Note This study by researchers from the California VA Palo Alto Health System and Stanford School of Medicine compares trends in the use of robotic surgery for common general surgical procedures among Veterans Health Administration (VHA), community practice, and academic healthcare centers between January 1, 2013, and December 31,…
FDA: Class I recall of GE HealthCare’s Nuclear Medicine 600/800 Series systems
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 15 identified the recall by GE HealthCare of its Nuclear Medicine 600/800 Series systems as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of an issue with two mechanisms that prevent uncontrolled detector movement. If the mechanisms fail,…
Use of telemedicine to preoperatively evaluate bariatric surgery patients
Editor's Note This study from the University of Pittsburgh finds that telemedicine can be used safely and effectively for bariatric surgical patients’ preoperative care. A total of 1,182 patients (telemedicine visit group, 257 vs in-person visit controls, 925) were included in the analysis. The telemedicine group was found to be…
7 nursing schools ordered to pause graduation, enrollment
Editor's Note The Florida Commission for Independent Education has ordered seven nursing schools to pause graduation and enrollment through March, the February 15 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. The schools are allegedly connected to the sale of more than 7,600 fraudulent nursing degrees and transcripts to aspiring nurses. Of the seven…
Asensus to integrate Google Cloud AI into surgical robot
Editor's Note Asensus Surgical and Google Cloud are collaborating to integrate Google’s artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and cloud data into Asensus’ surgical robot platform, the February 14 Mass Device reports. Applying AI capabilities to clinical performance data will enhance accuracy and efficiency as well as help surgeons avoid complications and…
Prices for surgical procedures in and out of hospital networks
Editor's Note This study from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, finds that network facilities had higher negotiated prices for surgical procedures, and there is wide variability across facilities in and out of hospital networks. A total of 3,195 hospitals were included in the analysis. Among the findings: For 15…
Workforce is top concern in healthcare CEO’s annual survey
Editor's Note In its annual survey, the American College of Healthcare Executives identified “workforce challenges” as their top concern for the second year in a row, the February 13 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. Financial challenges, which held the top spot for 16 years, is now listed second in the most…
FDA: Class I recall of Skippack Medical Lab COVID-19 tests
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 8 identified the recall by Universal Meditech Inc of its Skippack Medical Lab SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Test (Colloidal Gold) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because the tests were distributed to US customers without authorization, clearance,…
Effect of preinfection healthy lifestyle on long COVID
Editor's Note This study led by researchers at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, finds that a preinfection healthy lifestyle was linked to a substantially decreased risk of post-COVID-19 condition (PCC), informally known as long COVID. This prospective cohort analysis included 32,249 women in the Nurses’ Health…