Editor's Note US Representatives from California and Texas reintroduced the National Patient Safety Board (NPSB) Act, which aims to establish a public-private research and development team “dedicated to preventing and reducing healthcare-related harms." The March 11 announcement comes during Patient Safety Awareness Week, an annual awareness initiative focusing on the…
Editor's Note Health complications and hospital readmissions are more likely for Medicare patients living in areas with primary care shortages. The findings, from a cross-sectional retrospective cohort study of data from 2015 to 2019, were published March 4 in Health Affairs. Specifically, the study showed that patients in areas with…
Editor's Note The Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai has introduced a pioneering device aimed at treating patients with difficult-to-manage hypertension, making it one of four institutions in the US and the first on the West Coast to make use of this technology, a March 8 press release published by Cedars…
Editor's Note Healthcare employment in the US rose by 90,700 from February to March, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released on March 8. That is compared to an overall monthly gain of 275,000 in February. In February, healthcare employment trended up also in: ambulatory…
Editor’s Note ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) every year compiles and unveils a list of the top 10 patient safety concerns affecting the healthcare industry. The report highlights issues what healthcare leaders should focus on within their own organizations and opportunities to address preventable harm. The…
Editor's Note Successful use of augmented reality in a cardiac ablation procedure holds additional promise for training as well as more advanced OR applications, according to a February 29 report from Stanford Medicine. During ablation, a treatment for heart arrythmias, surgeons typically refer to as many as eight screens depicting…
Editor's Note Spine surgeons are sounding the alarm about high numbers of unnecessary fusion surgeries, according to a March 5 report in Becker’s Spine Review. Unnecessary surgeries refer to any surgical intervention that is not needed or in the patient’s best interest. A recent report from Forbes finds that 50%…
Editor's Note A medical device developed by researchers at Northwestern University and Washington University School of Medicine could enable clinicians to monitor the health of a patient’s organs following surgery. The findings appeared in the journal Science on March 7. Patients who undergo gastrointestinal surgeries—including pancreatic surgery—can develop anastomotic leaks…
Mastering OR Renovations and New Builds – Working with Your Team to Navigate Design Challenges and Achieve Superior Results Preparing for an OR renovation or new build project? You may be asking yourself - where should I begin? The OR Manager Construction-Renovation Webinar Series will serve as your blueprint to…
Editor's Note Patients with a history of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a higher risk of delirium after high-complexity surgeries but not after those of moderate complexity, according to findings published in the March issue of Anesthesia and Analgesia.  The study included 46,352 hospital patients older than 60 years who…