The Joint Commission adds new HCSS performance measures
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on January 26 that it will add four new performance measures to four recently revised Health Care Staffing Services (HCSS) measures. The new measures will be used to report staff turnover rates and track reasons for staff turnover. The new performance measures apply to…
Nurse staffing agencies allegedly inflating prices
Editor's Note In a probe led by House Representatives Peter Welch (D-VT) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA), some 200 House members have asked the White House to investigate allegedly inflated costs being charged by nurse staffing agencies, according to the January 26 Beckerโs Hospital CFO Report. In the investigation request, the…
Cardiovascular considerations before elective noncardiac surgery in COVID-19 patients
Editor's Note In this viewpoint, researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine, note that it is unclear whether cardiovascular complications associated with COVID-19 persist beyond the acute phase of illness and whether a history of COVID-19 warrants any additional preoperative cardiac assessments before having elective surgery. They review the literature…
The Joint Commission revises Environment of Care Chapter
The Joint Commission revises Environment of Care Chapter The Joint Commission on January 26 announced that it has approved several revisions to Elements of Performance (EP) in the Environment of Care (EC) chapter, which will vary across accreditation programs. Among the revisions: Standard EC.02.04.01, EP 11, which addresses reporting incidents…
Participate in survey on effects of COVID-19 on evacuation of surgical smoke
Editor's Note Please participate in an important nationwide perioperative survey on surgical smoke evacuation. The purpose of the research, led by Brenda Ulmer MN, RN, CNOR, is to determine evacuation behaviors in hospitals before COVID-19, and then note changes as the virus continued to spread in the US. Ulmer and…
Association of COVID-19 with hospital readmissions
Editor's Note This study by researchers from New York University School of Medicine finds several factors associated with increased odds of readmission of patients hospitalized with COVID-19. In this retrospective cohort analysis of 6,191 adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in a New York safety-net hospital system between March 1 and…
Value-based enterprise poses big opportunity for ASCs
Editor's Note OR Managerโs November/December 2021 issue featured a deep-dive into the term value-based enterprise and how it is revolutionizing delivery of care (read full story here). In a value-based enterprise model, โproviders are paid based on patient outcomes,โ and outcomes are measured against the cost of care. Value-based enterprise,…
Frequency of adverse events in placebo groups of COVID-19 vaccine trials
Editor's Note This meta-analysis, led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, finds that the rate of nocebo responses in placebo groups of COVID-19 vaccine trials was substantial. The researchers analyzed adverse event reports for 45,380 COVID-19 vaccine trial participants (22,578 placebo recipients and…
Nearly a third of nurses thinking of leaving direct patient care
Editor's Note A recent survey by McKinsey & Company finds that more than 30% of US nurses are thinking of leaving direct patient care for other roles. Reasons cited by nurses for leaving, include: ongoing demands of the COVID-19 pandemic hiring and retention incentives at other workplaces desire for support…
Incidental COVID-19 hospital cases are hard to track
Editor's Note Incidental COVID-19โwhen patients are admitted to the hospital for something other than COVID-19 but test positive for the virus during their stayโis a reality for most, if not all, hospitals. However, a Beckerโs study finds that the frequency of incidental COVID-19 cases is particularly challenging for hospital staff…