Editor's Note: Equinoxe Shoulder System joint replacement devices manufactured by Exactech between 2004 and 2021 are at risk of premature wearing or failure due to defective packaging, according to a January 16 safety alert from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The bags used to package the devices were…

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Nursing is not a career path for the faint of heart. However, working in places wracked by civil strife and natural catastrophes can strain the composure of the most elite in any specialty. If the OR tent lifting away in strong post-hurricane winds stateside is not bad enough, imagine having…

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Immediate use steam sterilization (IUSS, a standard steam sterilization cycle with little to no dry time) is considered safe for patient care when the processes recommended in Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) standards and AORN guidelines are followed. IUSS is a valuable option in an emergency. Lack…

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Editor's Note:  Adherence to routine disinfection procedures may not be enough to prevent potentially harmful bacterial contamination of high-touch hospital surfaces, according to findings published January 10 in the American Journal of Infection Control. Manikins, bed rails, and workstations-on-wheels were the most contaminated surfaces. The study involved sampling and culturing…

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Editor's Note:  Due to sex hormones, “the female brain is more resistant to the hypnotic effects of volatile anesthetics,” concludes a study published January 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. General anesthetics work in part by modulating the activity of hypothalamic circuits, which regulate sleep and…

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Editor's Note: A recent study reveals individuals with obesity or metabolic disorder could have a higher risk of experiencing graft function deterioration (GFD), while individuals with metabolically healthy overweight or obesity (MHO) had an elevated risk. Results were published December 27 in JAMA Network Open. The cohort study examined 1260 adult…

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Editor's Note:  Researchers from UCLA and UC Irvine have created the first comprehensive online repository of physiological waveform and health record data from surgeries which is intended to serve as a resource for training and testing AI algorithms. The findings were published in JAMIA Open on October 17.  In development…

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Editor's Note: Recent data show a direct correlation between nurse practitioner (NP) burnout and patients– particularly older adults with chronic diseases – utilizing the hospital and emergency department. Sage Journals published the findings on December 25. In 2018 and 2019, researchers collected survey data related to burnout from 1,244 primary…

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Editor's Note:  Initial testing of an AI-driven documentation tool showed great promise in reducing administrative burdens on primary care clinicians at Atrium Health, according to a January 9 report in Chief Healthcare Executive. The health system is reportedly the first to widely test the Nuance Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Copilot, which records…

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Editor's Note:  The World Health Organization (WHO)  has released recommendations around the ethics and guidance of artificial intelligence (AI)-based large language models (LLMs) in healthcare applications.  In a January 18 announcement, the organization recognized that AI LLMs, with their ability to analyze and interpret data, have a wide range of…

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