Editor's Note Metaverse company, Ubitus K.K., will help Smart Surgery Technology roll out Sim Surgery – a VR surgery simulation application, reports January 5 Healthcare Purchasing News. Sim Surgery will be an affordable and more available solution addressing the growing need for medical students and physicians to gain ample surgical…
Editor's Note This study, led by researchers at the University Medical Center Utrecht in the Netherlands, finds that a liberal preoperative fasting policy allowing adults scheduled for general anesthesia to drink clear fluids until arrival in the OR was associated with reduced fasting duration and improved patient well-being with regard…
Editor's Note Five more healthcare systems are launching or expanding nursing programs, the January 4 Becker’s Hospital Review reports. Penn medicine, Philadelphia, partnered with the Howley Foundation and La Salle University to launch the ASPIRE Program at the University of Pennsylvania, which allows high school juniors to begin training to…
Editor's Note This study from the University of California, San Francisco, finds that patient access to elective surgical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery phase was limited by disparities based on age, language, marital status, insurance, socioeconomic status, and distance from care. Among the findings: The number of patients with…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced January 4 that Northside Hospital, Atlanta, is the first in the country to receive Maternal Levels of Care Verification and the first in the state to receive a Level IV Maternal Center Designation from the Georgia Department of Public Health. Georgia is one of…
Editor's Note This study from the University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, finds that postoperative opioid prescriptions written by advanced practice clinicians (APCs), defined as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, had higher total dosages compared with those written by surgeons. A total of 628,197 surgical procedures involving 581,387 adults…
Editor's Note This study led by epidemiologist Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, and associates, St Paul, Minnesota, found visible damage and residue or debris in 100% of 25 processed flexible endoscopes, using a new visual inspection program that included magnification and borescopes. Fully processed endoscopes were examined twice during a 2-month…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on December 20, identified the recall by Arrow International, LLC, subsidiary of Teleflex, Inc, of its Arrow AutoCAT 2 and AC3 intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs) as Class I, the most serious. IABPs are used in patients having cardiac and non-cardiac surgery, and…
Editor's Note This international sleep study led by researchers at the University of Bergen, Norway, finds that shift/night work was not associated with an increased risk of COVID-19, but if shift/night workers became infected, they had more severe disease. The analysis included 7,141 workers from 15 countries and 4 continents.…
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on December 14 that it will be eliminating the term “licensed independent practitioner” from its critical access hospital and hospital programs, effective February 19, 2023. The updated terminology is consistent with that used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Conditions of Participation…