Surgery
Postop effect of vaccination status, mode of anesthesia on COVID-19 patients
Editor's Note This study by researchers at Kaiser Permanente and the University of California, San Francisco-East Bay, Oakland, finds that having a surgical procedure shortly after COVID-19 infection was not associated with higher risks in fully vaccinated patients or those who did not have general anesthesia. The analysis included 228,913…
Study: Better OR ventilation linked to lower SSI rates
Editor's Note This Swiss study finds that better OR ventilation properties, as assessed with a new ventilation index, are associated with lower rates of surgical site infections (SSIs) in orthopedic, spine, and cardiac procedures. Researchers calculated a ventilation index with higher values reflecting less turbulent air displacement instead of comparing…
Disposition, outcomes of patients after day-of-surgery case cancellation
Editor's Note In this study from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, researchers find that nearly a fifth of cases canceled on the day of surgery are never rescheduled, and, if they are rescheduled, the delay can be substantial. During the 2-year study period, 4,472 cases were canceled on the day…
Refreshed Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports available for certified stroke centers
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 5 announced that refreshed Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports are available for primary and comprehensive stroke centers to provide performance measurement data on the quality measures selected for advanced certification. The reports contain data through the first quarter of 2022 and are intended to…
AHRQ: Differences in hospital stays with OR procedures by race, ethnicity
Editor's Note The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released new statistics on inpatient stays with OR procedures by patient race and ethnicity from the 2019 National Inpatient Sample. Among the findings: Nonmaternal (ie, men and women of any age) hospitalizations with OR procedures in Black and White…
FDA: Class I recall of LivaNova’s LifeSPARC System
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 30 identified the recall by LivaNova (TandemLife) of its LifeSPARC System, Model LS-1000, as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the risk of unintentional extended pump stop during Controller Critical Failure mode, caused by a…
The superior efficacy of machine learning based AI tools
With all the factors involved in optimizing OR utilization, assigning OR slots is a complex proposition. When you consider that the average cost to run a fully equipped OR is now at approximately $1,000 per hour in staff and equipment costs, it is more important than ever for hospitals to…
Substance use disorder admissions down, overdose deaths up during COVID-19
Editor's Note This study led by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, California, finds a 23.5% decrease in substance use disorder treatment admissions across the US during COVID-19. In 2020, the number of substance use disorders admissions decreased from 65.9 to 50.4 per 10,000. The decrease was larger for men (87.5…
New standards for quality care in emergency general surgery
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) and American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) on September 21 announced the launch of a new surgical quality program to help hospitals establish and maintain the highest standards in emergency general surgery. The Emergency General Surgery Verification Program focuses on…
Anesthesiologist staffing ratio tied to mortality, morbidity
Editor's Note This study from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, finds that overlapping clinical responsibilities of a supervising anesthesiologist are associated with increased surgical patient mortality and morbidity. A total of 578,815 adult surgical patients from 23 US academic and private hospitals were included in the analysis. The patients…
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