Non-opioid pain management gaining favor in ASCs
Pressure to contain opioid overuse in the United States is at a boiling point. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that overdose deaths linked to opioid prescriptions have increased fivefold over the last two decades. To reduce reliance on opioid prescriptions, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services…
No increased risk of complications after ambulatory total joint procedures
Editor's Note There were no increased risks of complications or readmissions after total hip replacements (THRs) and total knee replacements (TKRs) performed in a community-based ambulatory surgery center (ASC), finds this study reported in a Poster Session March 14 at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Las Vegas. A…
Joint Commission releases 2018 sentinel event stats
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 13 released its sentinel event statistics for 2018, the majority of which were voluntarily reported by an accredited or certified organization. Of the 10 most frequently reported events, falls and unintended retention of a foreign body were at the top with 111 reports…
ACDF can be performed safely in outpatient setting
Editor's Note Removal of multiple herniated or degenerative discs in the neck, known as anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), can be safely performed in an outpatient setting, finds this study presented March 13 at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in Las Vegas. Of 103 patients included in the…
FDA: Guardian Pharmacy ordered to stop producing sterile compounded drugs
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration on March 12 announced that a federal judge entered a consent decree against Guardian Pharmacy Services (Dallas, Texas) to stop the company from producing compounded drug products intended to be sterile until the company complies with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FD&C)…
IV and oral acetaminophen work equally well after THA
Editor's Note Intravenous (IV) acetaminophen did not result in a significant difference in pain scores, opioid consumption, or opioid-related adverse events compared with oral acetaminophen, finds this study presented March 12 at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. A total of 154 patients having total…
Hospital employment up again in February
Editor's Note US hospitals added 4,200 jobs in February to a seasonally adjusted 5,212,700, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on March 8. Thatโs up 103,200 more employees than a year ago. Overall, healthcare employment has increased 361,100 in the past year. The overall unemployment rate declined by 0.2% in…
Discharging surgical patients earlier in the day linked to LOS, hospital throughput
Editor's Note A 12-month targeted initiative to discharge surgical patients earlier was associated with a 50% increase in patients being discharged by noon in this study. The initiative, which included preoperative and inpatient components: increased discharge by noon rates from 14.3% to 21.5% decreased length of stay (LOS) from 2.17…
FDA issues letter on risks linked with staplers, implantable staples
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 8 issued a letter to alert healthcare providers about an increasing number of medical device reports on surgical staplers for internal use and implantable surgical staples. The most common reported problems include opening of the staple line, malformation of staples,…
Bacterial contamination of white coats, surgical scrubs
Editor's Note Provider attire is a potential source of pathogenic bacterial transmission in healthcare settings, this review study finds. A total of 22 articles were included in this analysis, which found that provider attire was commonly colonized by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), with white coats laundered less frequently than scrubs. The…