Supply Chain/Technology
Amazon launches Amazon Care
Editor's Note Amazon has launched Amazon Care, a virtual primary care clinic, with an option for home visits from nurses, the September 24 CNBC.com reports. Employees will have an option to see a physician, nurse practitioner, or RN via a mobile app or website, and they can text a nurse…
Is point-of-use treatment an integral part of your sterilization process?
Providing sterile instrumentation for patient care is a basic fundamental of surgery, and ensuring sterility means that instrumentation must first be thoroughly cleaned, step by step. Point-of-use treatment, an important part of this process, is gaining the attention of accrediting agencies such as the Joint Commission, and it is included…
EHR efficiency, usability, stress differ by physician gender
Editor's Note There are gender differences in how physicians perceive EHR-related stress, satisfaction, and usability, finds this study. Of 25 ICU physicians who participated in the study, 48% were men and 52% were women. Overall task performance scores were similar, but men reported significantly higher perceived EHR workload stress and…
Machine learning algorithm predicts bleeding during CABG surgery
Editor's Note A machine learning algorithm based on data from the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry accurately identified patients at risk for bleeding during or after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery, the August 23 Health IT Analytics reports. Researchers developed the platform using a risk spectrum…
Inspections reveal need to overhaul bronchoscope reprocessing methods
Extensive research by Cori L. Ofstead, MSPH, and her colleagues at Ofstead & Associates (St Paul, Minnesota) has raised concerns about insufficient reprocessing of gastrointestinal endoscopes and ureteroscopes—even when recommended practices are followed—and their new study makes a compelling case for more stringent reprocessing of bronchoscopes as well. In their…
AI, machine learning help unlock health data at Michigan Medicine
Editor's Note The University of Michigan’s health system has 34 artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning research projects underway, 28 of which have principal investigators, the August 12 Health Data Management reports. Projects include analyzing electronic health records (EHRs), ECG monitor data, and analytics to predict acute hemodynamic instability and…
NYT: Experts call for single-use, sterilization or redesign of duodenoscopes, bronchoscopes
Editor's Note Contaminated duodenoscopes have transmitted drug-resistant infections to hundreds of patients, and now some experts are urging the Food & Drug Administration to force manufacturers to develop duodenoscopes that can be properly sterilized or single-use duodenoscopes or take duodenoscopes off the market, the August 6 New York Times Reports.…
CMS proposes giving Medicare patients better access to cutting-edge devices
Editor's Note In its proposed rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would give Medicare patients better access to innovative devices beginning next year, the July 30 MassDevice reports. CMS also says it might pay more for “certain transformative new devices” for inpatients, using a new technology add-on…
FDA issues final guidance for drug-device combo products
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on July 22 issued a final guidance for makers of products that combine devices and drugs or biologics. The guidance clarifies how manufacturers should comply with recordkeeping requirements and how they should submit safety reports and avoid duplication.
Joint Commission names five hospitals as 2019 Pioneers in Quality Expert Contributors
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on July 24 named five hospitals/healthcare systems as 2019 Pioneers in Quality Expert Contributors for their leadership efforts in using electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) practices to drive their quality improvement. The five are: Baptist Health (Jacksonville, Florida) Johns Hopkins Health System (Baltimore, Maryland) Memorial…
Free Daily News
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- Study: Hospital bed shortage looms as aging population drives demand
- FDA designates Class 1 recall for pacemakers
- Chinese medical devices threaten US healthcare cybersecurity
- Preoperative SGLT2i use does not raise DKA risk in emergency surgery
- AI boosts accuracy in surgical reports, outperforming surgeons