We all think we are good at multitasking—but we're really not. A good way to enhance decision-making is to sleep on it. Exercise boosts brain power and could stave off Alzheimer's. These are a few of 12 "brain rules" laid out by writer John Medina in his fascinating book of…
The devil really is in the details. That's a key message from a national project to prevent wrong-site surgery. Five hospitals and three surgery centers have worked with the Joint Commission's Center for Transforming Healthcare (CTH) to measure defects in their own processes and come up with targeted ways to…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposes new quality measures, including a new quality reporting program for ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), in its proposed 2012 outpatient rule issued July 1, 2011. The rule applies to hospital outpatient departments and ASCs. Comments are accepted until August 30. A final…
A leading spine journal is casting a critical eye on industry-supported research that has led to widespread use of Medtronic's controversial bone growth product Infuse. The June 2011 issue of Spine Journal carries a strongly worded editorial about the trial designs, reporting bias, and peer review shortfalls that the authors…
Updated infection control practices from the American Society of Anesthesiologists draw on data and national guidelines to inform anesthesia providers of practices shown to alter the incident of health care-associated infections. The recommendations also focus on prevention of occupational transmission of infection in anesthesiologists. The document has not been reviewed…
Every OR has policies and procedures for environmental cleaning. But how do you know surfaces are truly free of pathogens that could transmit infection? The stakes are high. Environmental contamination plays a role in the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and Clostridium difficile, among others. Evidence…
It started out as a typical Sunday morning on call—a 7:30 am C section, home for a nap, then a call-back at 3 pm for orthopedic cases. But that Sunday, May 22, 2011, turned out to be anything but typical for Staci Perry, a surgical technologist at St John's Regional…
What if in the future nurses and physicians sat down in the same anatomy classes? What if schools offered more joint learning opportunities? That could go a long way toward building the closer collaboration needed to advance the culture of safety. Nurses and physicians learning together could advance safety by…