Total hip improves 5-year QOL outcomes
Editor's Note Total hip replacement patients experience meaningful and lasting improvement in quality of life (QOL) through at least 5-years after the procedure, this study finds. The analysis included 188 total hip replacement patients at seven hospitals who were evaluated with a standard quality-of-life assessment, called the “Short Form 36,”…
ACP position paper calls for reducing administrative tasks for physicians
Editor's Note A position paper from the American College of Physicians (ACP) makes recommendations on administrative tasks to mitigate or eliminate their adverse effects on physicians, their patients, and the whole healthcare system. Among the recommendations: Stakeholders external to physician practices (ie, payers, government and other oversight organizations, vendors, and…
Proposed ASTM standard supports preclinical testing for disc replacement
Editor's Note A proposed international standard, “WK33006, Guide for Impingement Testing of Total Disc Prostheses,” being developed by ASTM’s committee on medical and surgical materials and devices could help manufacturers improve designs for total disc replacements. The proposed standard will guide manufacturers through the process of characterizing “impingement behavior” of…
Reduced risk of pressure injuries in hospitals with WOC certified nurses
Editor's Note Hospitals that employ nurses certified in wound, ostomy, and continence (WOC) care have lower rates of hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs), finds this study. Of 928 hospital included in the analysis, 36.6% employed WOC certified nurses. Hospitals with WOC certified nurses had lower HAPI rates and better pressure injury…
Methodology reduces postop mortality using VASQIP risk calculator
Editor's Note This study validates a methodology, using the Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program (VASQIP) risk calculator, to identify patients with a high risk of 30-day mortality after elective surgery who may benefit from referral for tertiary care. The methodology predicted that 16% (90 of 565) of patients would…
FDA: Class I recall of HeartStart MRx Monitoy/Defibrillator
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 24 identified the recall of the HeartStart MRx Monitor/Defibrillator by Phillips Healthcare (Amsterdam) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of electrical and battery connection issues that may prevent the device from powering up, charging, and…
Effect of hospital and specialty factors on readmissions
Editor's Note Hospital surgical readmissions are primarily explained by patient- and procedure-specific factors and less by broader specialty and hospital effects, this study finds. There was no correlation between specialty-specific readmissions for general and orthopedic, general and vascular, and vascular and orthopedic procedures. Within specialties, there were modest correlations between…
New toolkit on safe use of IT for patient identification released
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 22 announced the release of a free resource for patient identification using health information technology (IT) from the Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety. The toolkit details eight safe practice recommendations in two areas: Attributes−addresses information-gathering aspects of patient identification, such as fields…
DC hospital receives first Patient Blood Management Certification
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on March 22 that MedStar-Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC received the first Patient Blood Management Certification by the Joint Commission and AABB (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks). The certification provides a third party evaluation of patient blood management programs…
Brief learning module effective in teaching hemorrhage control
Editor's Note An 8-minute module can be deployed in clinical and nonclinical settings to train a large workforce in hemorrhage control, this study finds. In response to active shooter and mass casualty incidents, researchers at UnityPoint Health, Des Moines, Iowa, wanted to see if they could take important information from…