Association between bariatric surgery and diabetes treatment
Editor's Note In this nationwide French study, bariatric surgery was associated with a significantly higher 6-year postoperative diabetes treatment discontinuation rate, compared with baseline and a control group who did not have bariatric surgery. Of more than 30,000 patients included in the study, the treatment discontinuation rate was 49.9% for…
NPDB launches hospital attestation initiative
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 14 announced that the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) has launched a new initiative for US hospitals to complete their attestation when renewing their NPDB registrations. The NPDB is a repository of reports on medical malpractice payments and adverse actions related to healthcare…
CMS grants exceptions to ASCs in areas affected by natural disasters
Editor's Note Because of the impact of several recent natural disasters, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is granting exceptions for Medicare quality reporting requirements to ASCs in affected areas, the February 12 ASCA News reports. Exceptions include: ASCs in two California counties affected by wildfires ASCs located…
Study: OR skullcaps not linked to SSIs
Editor's Note Strictly enforcing a ban on skullcaps in the OR had no impact on surgical site infection (SSI) rates in this study, presented at the annual Academic Surgical Congress in Jacksonville, Florida. The analysis included American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) data on 1,901…
Joint Commission seeking eCQM success stories
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 14 announced that accredited hospitals should start thinking about electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) success stories to share in the 2018 Pioneers in Quality Proven Practices Collection. Proven Practices was launched last year and is a peer-to-peer sharing of specific practices that an…
FDA permits marketing of new blood test for concussions
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on February 14 authorized marketing of the first blood test to help evaluate concussions in adults and reduce the need for CT scans. The Banyan Brain Trauma Indicator works by measuring levels of proteins (ie, UCH-L1 and GFAP) that are released from…
Decreasing intraop delays with surgical safety checklist
Editor's Note Purposeful completion (fidelity) of, more than adherence to, items in the surgical safety checklist diminished intraoperative delays in this study. Of 591 cases analyzed, 110 (19%) had at least one documented intraoperative delay. The majority were related to missing (50%) or malfunctioning (30%) equipment. Degree of fidelity was…
Neurosurgical products market poised for growth
Editor's Note Wise Guy Reports predicts the global market for neurosurgical products will see a 10.5% compound annual growth rate through 2023 because of the growing availability of neurosurgical devices and increasing popularity of minimally invasive surgeries, the February 9 Beckerโs Spine Review reports. Key players in the market, which…
FDA permits marketing of software to alert providers of potential strokes in patients
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on February 13 announced that it is permitting the marketing of clinical decision support software that alerts providers to potential strokes in their patients. The Viz.AI Contact application is designed to analyze computed tomography images of the brain and send a text…
Frequent night shift work linked to Type 2 diabetes
Editor's Note Healthcare workers and others who work the night shift, especially rotating night shifts, are significantly more likely to have Type 2 diabetes than those who work only days, this study finds. The analysis of more than 270,000 people also found that the more nights employees work, the greater…