Editor’s Note “What problem does your OR have that you would like to solve?” posed Pamela Hunt, BS, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, Executive Advisory, Consultant and Associate Faculty, Kelly School of Business, Indiana University, to the audience at the OR Business Management Conference. During her session, "No Margin, No Mission:…

Read More

Editor’s Note Three panelists weighed in on which trends are impacting profitability in an OR Business Management Conference session titled, "Trends in the OR—What's Driving Profitability?" What is the area most affected by last year’s high inflation and supply shortages? Staffing expenses and shortages are continuing to "put pressure on…

Read More

Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, Illinois, and Edward Hines Jr Veterans Administration Hospital, Hines, Illinois, finds that core general surgery cases performed by senior-level residents can be done safely without the attending surgeons scrubbed in. Of 109,707 patients analyzed, 11,181 had procedures…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 1 announced a new search site that is available for finding Joint Commission-accredited organizations that provide substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and the levels of care they provide. Individuals seeking care, providers, state authorities, and payers can search by organization name or location…

Read More

Editor's Note This study from the Netherlands finds the addition of postoperative visits by anesthesia personnel (anesthesiologists or residents) to routine monitoring with modified early warning scores (MEWS) did not reduce 30-day mortality. A total of 5,190 (2,490 control, 2,700 intervention) medium- to high-risk elective surgical patients from nine academic…

Read More

Editor's note Researchers at Australia-based RMIT University have developed a new antimicrobial suture material that can reduce infections and simplify postoperative monitoring. Laboratory testing on the surgical suture finds it is easily visible in CT scans and that it has strong antimicrobial properties, killing 99% of highly drug-resistant bacteria after…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on February 1, announced that new resources are now available in its Health Care Equity Accreditation Standards & Resource Center, chronicling efforts by Boston Medical Center in its healthcare equity journey. The new resources include: Six “Snapshots” (brief synopses) focusing on challenges, successes, and lessons…

Read More

Editor's Note Adding more anesthesiology residency positions, even without federal funding, may help hospitals save staffing costs and address shortages of anesthesia personnel, finds a study presented January 27 at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ADVANCE 2023, in Orlando, Florida. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center compared the…

Read More

Editor's Note The New York Times on January 27 reported that 37% of aspiring nurses who allegedly purchased fraudulent degrees to bypass coursework and training required to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) passed the test. Many of the 7,600 individuals who paid between $10,000 and $15,000 for…

Read More

Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 30 identified the recall by Medtronic of its Mahurkar Acute Dual Lumen High Flow (13.5 French) Hemodialysis Catheters (Mahurkar QPlus) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of a potential catheter hub defect that may cause…

Read More