Nurses sleep less before work days than days off, affecting patient care
Editor's Note In this study from New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing, nurses were found to sleep nearly an hour and a half less before work days than before days off, affecting patient care and safety. Using data from two surveys of 1,568 nurses collected in 2015 and…
FDA: Medtronic recalls SynchroMed II implantable drug infusion pump
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 16 announced that Medtronic has recalled its SynchroMed II implantable infusion pump. The pump is being recalled because of the potential presence of foreign particles inside the pump motor assembly that may lead to a pump motor stall. Medtronic has…
Impact of shared governance on workplace empowerment over time
Editor's Note In this analysis of measurements (ie, staff’s caring, workplace engagement, and work empowerment) assessed before and after implementation of an interprofessional shared governance model, only work empowerment scores of staff working in relationship-based care professional practice models were sustainable and increased progressively and significantly over time. Work engagement…
Joint Commission transitioning to CMIP data submission app
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced December 11 that starting January 1, 2020, it will no longer have contracts with ORYX chart-based vendors for accreditation or certification purposes. Hospitals with advanced certification programs must manually enter their performance measure data into the Certification Measure Information Process (CMIP) app on their…
Effect of cannabis use disorder on postop outcomes
Editor's Note In this study, active cannabis use disorder was linked to an increased risk of postoperative myocardial infarction (MI). Researchers retrospectively analyzed 4,186,622 elective surgery patients in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Of 27,206 patients in the propensity-score matched-pairs cohort, there was no statistically significant difference between those with (400…
Joint Commission surveys based on version of USP 797 chapter adopted
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced December 11 that during the appeals process of he United States Pharmacopeia (USP) 797 chapter revisions, it will evaluate organizations based on the version they have adopted−either 2008 or the 2019 revised chapter. Organizations may not independently choose specific components from both versions, but…
AI and surgical decision making
Editor's Note Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with surgical decision making could transform care by augmenting the decision to perform surgery, informed consent process, identification and mitigation of modifiable risk factors, decisions on postoperative management, and shared decision for resource use, this review finds. Surgical decision making involves hypothetical-deductive reasoning, individual…
AI helps physicians identify cancer cells
Editor's Note Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas have developed a new software tool that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to recognize cancer cells from digital pathology images, a December 9 UT Southwestern news release reports. The spatial distribution of different types of cells can reveal a cancer’s growth…
UC San Diego opens new Center for Fluorescence-Guided Surgery
Editor's Note The Center for Fluorescence-Guided Surgery at UC San Diego Health is the first in the country dedicated to delivering a new caliber of surgical accuracy that allows surgeons to identify cancerous or critical tissues with GPS-like precision by lighting them up, the December 5 UC San Diego Health…
Association of postop MI with high mortality rates after vascular surgery
Editor's Note Despite high rates of patients discharged with cardioprotective medications, the long-term burden of postoperative myocardial infarction (MI) after major vascular surgery is substantial, with a high mortality rate in the following year, this study finds. Of 26,231 vascular surgery patients analyzed, factors linked to an increased risk of postoperative…