Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS), on July 10, announced the first five hospitals verified under its Emergency General Surgery Verification Program (ACS EGS-VP). EGS-VP is a surgical quality program created by ACS and the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma to help hospitals align resources and…

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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 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 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 A global study led by researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin, Ireland, finds older male patients are at greater risk of developing postoperative urinary retention (POUR) following elective inguinal hernia repair. The cohort study included 4,151 patients (3882 male and 269 female) recruited between March…

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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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Editor's Note Micobot Medical announced on June 29 that its LIBERTY Robotic Surgical System has completed an extended pre-clinical study in a New York-based research lab. With LIBERTY, the first single-use endovascular robotic surgical system, Microbot Medical aims to improve the way surgical robotics are used in endovascular procedures by…

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Editor's Note In a June 27 letter, the American Hospital Association (AHA) urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “to avoid disrupting healthcare delivery through the unintentional fracturing” of the medical device supply chain with its proposed ethylene oxide (EtO) standards. The EPA proposes: reducing EtO emissions by 80% adding new…

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Editor's Note This multi-center study led by Humana Inc, Louisville, Kentucky, finds that a bundled payment program offered by a Medicare Advantage insurer for lower extremity joint replacements was associated with reduced spending without changes in quality. A total of 23,034 lower extremity joint replacement surgical episodes (6,355 bundled, 16,679…

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