Automated intraop glucose monitoring linked to reduction in SSIs
Editor's Note In this study, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers created an automated system to identify diabetic patients, detect insulin administration, check for glucose measurement, and remind anesthesiologists to check intraoperative glucose. Implementation of the automated reminder system: improved glucose monitoring from 61.6% to 87.3% of cases reduced PACU hyperglycemia…
Gaps in FDA’s adverse event reporting system allowed power morcellator risks
Editor's Note A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that gaps in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) adverse event reporting system allowed the widespread use of laparoscopic power morcellators for years before their risk for spreading cancer became known, according to the February 10 Mass Device. Immediate Congressional action…
Hospital teaching status and Medicare payments, outcomes
Editor's Note Risk-adjusted Medicare payments for an episode of surgical care were similar at teaching and nonteaching hospitals for three complex surgical procedures, this study finds. Teaching vs nonteaching hospital payments included: abdominal aortic aneurism repair−$29,946 vs $27,993 pulmonary resection−$25,407 vs $26,813 colectomy−$34,949 vs $30,352. Very major teaching hospitals had…
FDA: Class I recall of CareFusion Alaris Syringe Pump
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 9 classified the recall by CareFusion (San Diego) of its Alaris Syringe Pump (large volume pump), model 8100, and air-in-line (AIL) sensor kits as Class I, the most serious. The recall was issued because of a faulty AIL sensor, which…
In-hospital surgical delay not associated with perforated appendix
Editor's Note In hospital delay of appendectomy in children was not associated with an increased rate of perforated appendix, this study from Sweden finds. Of 2,756 children who had an appendectomy for acute appendicitis, 661 (24%) had a histopathologic diagnosis of perforated appendix. In multivariate analysis, increased time to surgery…
Medical technology jobs drop amid device tax implementation
Editor's Note The Advanced medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) in a February 8 press release linked medical technology job losses to the Affordable Care Act’s medical device tax. The US medical technology industry lost nearly 29,000 (7.2%) jobs from 2012 to 2015 while the 2.3% medical device tax was in effect,…
Liver transplantation beneficial in critically ill children
Editor's Note Advances in critical care have made it possible for critically ill children to undergo liver transplantation with the same survival benefits as children who are stable before surgery, this study finds. At Texas Children’s Hospital, 65 of 354 patients who had liver transplantation between 2002 and 2015 were…
Boston hospital stops OR intruder posing as surgical resident
Editor's Note A middle-aged woman pretending to be a surgical resident was able to gain access to 5 ORs over 2 days at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital without an identification badge before she was stopped, the February 5 Boston Globe reports. For several days the woman walked the halls…
Impact of SSIs on costs after ambulatory surgery procedures
Editor's Note Surgical site infections (SSIs), especially serious infections resulting in hospitalization or surgical treatment, were associated with significantly increased health care costs after four common ambulatory surgical procedures, this study finds. The incidence of serious SSIs was 0.8% after 21,062 anterior cruciate ligament reconstructions, 0.5% after 57,750 cholecystectomies, 0.6%…
Biologists identify drug combinations to overcome antibiotic resistant bacteria
Editor's Note A team of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) biologists have found that combinations of three different antibiotics can overcome a bacteria’s resistance, even when none of the three on its own or two together is effective, the February 7 UCLA Newsroom reports. The biologists created a mathematical…