New studies on preventing retained sponges
Two new independent studies examine the performance of technologies for preventing retained sponges. In the first study, which tested data-matrix-coded sponges (SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System), none of the sponges were retained out of 1.86 million counted over 18 months. The study conducted at the Mayo Clinic Rochester (MCR) in Minnesota was…
Practical prevention: Orthopedie SSls
There's no shortage of literature on preventing orthopedic surgical site infections (SSIs). But how do you translate the evidence into practical strategies that are meaningful to clinicians on the front lines? A new guide aims to help. The Guide to the Prevention of Orthopedic Surgical Site Infections from the Association…
Welcome
To our readers, Chips, pastes, putties, gels, powders, wedges, DBM, BMP, and assorted kits—the list of bone allografts and substitutes is long and confusing. These biologic materials have a big impact on the OR budget, but they are more than just another line of surgical supplies. Biologics originate with a…
Regulating allograft tissue
When your OR is selecting allograft tissue, how do you know which federal regulations govern their safety? The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uses a tiered approach to regulating these materials, explains Scott Brubaker, CTBS, chief policy officer for the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB). Minimally processed tissue…
Donor screening: First step in safety
Screening of tissue donors is a critical step in ensuring tissue safety. Screening is a complex, multidisciplinary process that begins every time a family says "yes" to the option of donation and ends when tissue is released for transplant. Tissue banks vary in what is considered a suitable donor. Regulating…
Bone allografts: Options for healing
These are examples of types of bone allograft products and purposes they serve. With the chart on page 12, this information can help OR teams determine where a new allograft product would fit into current inventory. Allograft cancellous chips Cancellous chips, a common nonstructural human allograft bone material, serve as…
A sound process for acquiring tissue
A surgeon has requested a new tissue graft not in the current inventory. From the company's literature, it's not easy to tell whether the tissue is similar to others already in stock. Decisions like these are challenging because tissue grafts come with a host of safety, clinical, and cost issues.…
Core measures, accreditation to be linked
A special article on new Joint Commission expectations. By January 2012, the Joint Commission plans to raise the bar on hospital performance by using ORYX core measure data more directly in the survey process. In the 8 years since the Joint Commission launched ORYX, its performance measurement and improvement initiative,…
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