Surgery/Specialties
ENT leaders share innovative ideas to calm pediatric patients
Advancements in technology have made it easier to distract children and ease their fears when they are undergoing surgery, but managing this patient population presents unique challenges. To guide parents and children through the surgery experience, leaders at some ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) have turned to child life specialists, innovative…
Diversity of US healthcare workers
Editor's Note In this study, researchers from David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, quantify the current representatives of the US healthcare workforce and changes during the past 2 decades. Among the findings: The percentage of White men among physicians…
ACS launches new breast cancer skills program
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) on July 9 announced a new breast cancer skills program for breast cancer patients. Patients have access to evidence-based knowledge, checklists, and skills training to support them from preoperative preparation through postoperative recovery. Given in advance of surgery, the ACS Surgical Skills…
Utility of COVID-19 testing of asymptomatic patients before ambulatory, inpatient surgical procedures
Editor's Note In this study by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, mass COVID-19 preprocedure testing detected positive asymptomatic patients who were missed by clinical screening alone. The median test turnaround time was 7.8 hours. Of 75, 528 preprocedure tests performed: 318 (0.4%) patients tested positive…
FDA: Class I recall of DeRoyal surgical procedure packs
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on June 25, identified the recall of DeRoyal Industries’ surgical procedure packs as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because the packs contain 1% lidocaine that had been mislabeled as 0.5% bupivacaine. The procedure packs are used for cardiac…
AMA survey shows 96% of physicians vaccinated
Editor's Note The American Medical Association (AMA) has released a new survey of 301 US practicing physicians that shows 96% have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Of those not yet vaccinated, 45% plan to do so. Vaccination rates did not differ across: primary care physicians (98%) or specialists (95%) regions—North…
Researchers raise the alarm on splashing during reprocessing--Part 1
Does it really matter if surgical instruments are submerged in cleaning solution when technologists or nurses scrub them after a case? Is there a reason for the 3-foot separation between dirty and clean areas? Do germs stop at the red line? During the COVID-19 pandemic, much attention has been focused…
No such thing as downtime: CSP renovation does not stop surgery
Many of today’s medical facilities have been modernized, but some still have areas of aging infrastructure. The central sterile processing (CSP) department at Cleveland Clinic Mercy Hospital in Canton, Ohio, is one such example. The original Terrazzo floor from when the facility was built in 1953 had become hazardous. The…
ISMP introduces perioperative Medication Safety Self Assessment
Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced on June 16 that the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) has launched a new Medication Safety Self Assessment for perioperative settings to gauge how well organizations are doing in protecting surgical patients from medication errors. The new tool, which is for hospitals, ambulatory…
Short-term effects of canceled surgical procedures during COVID-19 pandemic in VA Healthcare System
Editor's Note In this study, from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Menlo Park, and Stanford University, both in California, researchers found that the pause in elective surgical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic was not associated with short-term adverse outcomes in VA hospitals. A total of 3,326 surgical procedures canceled…
Free Daily News
- 2025 OR Manager Conference unveils next-level leadership strategies for ASCs and beyond
- UnitedHealth’s dominant growth forges ahead amid intensifying antitrust scrutiny
- Analysis: How the new US malpractice standard puts evidence-based ‘reasonable care’ over customary practice
- Healthgrades announces 2025 Patient Safety Excellence Award recipients
- Supreme Court case could threaten colorectal cancer screening access, ACG warns
- Study: CMS sepsis care protocol shows no clear mortality benefit
- Study: Implicit bias linked to low-value vascular procedures, worse outcomes for Black patients
- The Joint Commission, National Quality Forum accept patient safety, equity award applications
- Medical gaslighting tops ECRI’s 2025 patient safety threat list
- Study: Predictive model improves nosocomial infection risk assessment after colon cancer surgery