Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on July 5, announced that the Primary Stroke Center (PSC) Certification performance measure Stroke Volume (STK-VOL-1) is being renamed to Ischemic Stroke Patients who Receive Mechanical Endovascular Reperfusion Therapy, which removes the word “eligible” from the title. The change distinguishes ischemic stroke patients who receive…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC Los Angeles, find that patients having simultaneous bilateral total knee arthroplasties (TKAs) are at increased risk of several types of complications, compared with patients having unilateral TKAs. A total of 21,044 patients having simultaneous bilateral TKAs…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on July 11, identified the recall by Megadyne of its Mega 2000 and Mega Soft reusable patient return electrodes as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated after Megadyne received reports of pediatric and adult patients receiving burn injuries during…

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Editor's Note This study by nurse researcher Linda H. Aiken, PhD, RN, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, finds that deliberate actions by management are needed to improve nurse staffing, clinician control over workloads, and work environments. A total of 5,312 physicians and 15,738 nurses at 60 nationally…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on July 5, announced that its surveyors will no longer be evaluating compliance with the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for accreditation. The standard will remain in the current manual until the next standards release later this year, The Joint Commission says.

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Editor's Note On June 29, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a medical advisory alert "warning of a significant, high-risk vulnerability in Medtronic’s Paceart Optima System, which is used to compile and manage patients’ cardiac device data," the American Hospital Association (AHA) July 6 reports. According to CISA,…

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Editor's Note A recent study led by researchers at the McGovern Medical School at The University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston finds patients with cannabis use disorder are at a modestly increased risk of perioperative morbidity and mortality after major elective, inpatient, noncardiac surgery. Recently in the United…

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Editor's Note Since the divisive ruling on affirmative action from the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on June 29, which stated that "colleges and universities can no longer take race into consideration as a specific basis in admissions—a landmark decision that will have profound impacts on higher education institutions including medical…

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Editor's Note The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) published a new toolkit geared toward helping to improve complications and enhance patient recovery after surgical procedures, AHRQ News Now June 27 reports. The new toolkit, titled Toolkit for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery, "addresses common surgical complications such as surgical…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) announced on June 29 that patients taking any of the currently popular medications for weight loss or for the treatment of type 2 diabetes should withhold the medication prior to elective surgery to "reduce the risk of complications associated with anesthesia in…

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