The new year is just around the corner, and it will bring new challenges for OR leaders as well as fresh opportunities to improve clinical, financial, and operational performance. The typical surgery department is a “target-rich environment”: low utilization, long turnover times, inefficient charge capture, poor documentation, high supply costs,…

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Editor's Note This study from France finds that persistent physical symptoms after COVID-19 infection should not be automatically ascribed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In this analysis of 26,823 adults, persistent physical symptoms (eg, fatigue, breathlessness, impaired attention, hearing impairment, sleep problems, anosmia) were reported by adults who said they believed…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of California San Francisco-Stanford finds that COVID-19 patients taking SSRI antidepressants, particularly fluoxetine, were significantly less likely to die from the disease. The research team analyzed electronic health records (EHRs) from 87 healthcare centers across the US. Of 83,584 adult patients diagnosed with…

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Editor's Note In this study, Cleveland Clinic researchers find that patients with certain sleep disorders have more severe outcomes from COVID-19. The analysis included 5,402 patients. Although patients with sleep-disordered breathing and sleep-related hypoxia did not have an increased risk of developing COVID-19, they had a worse clinical prognosis from…

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Editor's Note Cleveland Clinic, on November 12, announced that it is requiring all US employees and those who provide services with Cleveland Clinic to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by January 4, 2022. In accordance with federal mandates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, employees who are not fully…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers from VA Boston and VA Bedford, Massachusetts, Healthcare Systems, found that frequent, mandatory surveillance of vaccinated healthcare workers (HCWs) was effective in detecting COVID-19 infections. The analysis included all 431 HCWs at VA Boston and 1,542 HCWs at VA Bedford facilities. Mandatory surveillance testing…

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Editor's Note ECRI and its affiliate, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), on November 10, announced that Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health had won their 2021 Safety Excellence Award. Jefferson Health’s award-winning initiative redirected their safety approach from departmental/project-based to a system-wide integrated and coordinated safety management system across 18 hospitals.…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on November 9, identified the recall by Aligned Medical Solutions of its custom convenience kits as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the potential for the plunger in Cardinal Health's Monoject Flush Prefilled Syringe (0.9% sodium chloride),…

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Editor's Note Please participate in an important nationwide perioperative survey on surgical smoke evacuation. The purpose of the research led by Brenda Ulmer MN, RN, CNOR, is to determine evacuation behaviors in hospitals before COVID-19, and then note changes as the virus continued to spread in the US. Ulmer and…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission, on November 10, released a new Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 64: “Addressing healthcare disparities by improving quality and safety.” The Alert summarizes strategies for healthcare and human services organizations as they begin to address healthcare disparities, and it provides examples of successful initiatives already underway.…

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