Editor's Note In this study from Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, a first case on-time starts (FCOTS) improvement initiative was linked to a higher frequency of FCOTS, which was independently associated with last case on-time ends (LCOTE) and decreased OR overtime costs. Of 12,073 cases (6,095 pre- vs…

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Editor's Note Surgery patients overwhelmingly prefer pre-surgical safety checklists to be completed in front of them, contrary to what is thought by anesthesiologists, this Swiss study finds. In this trial, which included 110 anesthesiologists and 125 non-premedicated ear-nose-throat or maxillofacial surgery patients, the patients overwhelmingly agreed that anesthesiologists should use…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital, designed, implemented, and assessed the effect of the first surgery-specific peer support program in the US. The program uses five steps: creation of a conceptual framework choice of peer supporters training of peer supporters multifaceted identification of major adverse…

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Editor's Note In this study, active cannabis use disorder was linked to an increased risk of postoperative myocardial infarction (MI). Researchers retrospectively analyzed 4,186,622 elective surgery patients in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Of 27,206 patients in the propensity-score matched-pairs cohort, there was no statistically significant difference between those with (400…

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Editor's Note Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) with surgical decision making could transform care by augmenting the decision to perform surgery, informed consent process, identification and mitigation of modifiable risk factors, decisions on postoperative management, and shared decision for resource use, this review finds. Surgical decision making involves hypothetical-deductive reasoning, individual…

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Editor's Note The Center for Fluorescence-Guided Surgery at UC San Diego Health is the first in the country dedicated to delivering a new caliber of surgical accuracy that allows surgeons to identify cancerous or critical tissues with GPS-like precision by lighting them up, the December 5 UC San Diego Health…

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Editor's Note Though patient and personnel factors affect the order of case induction, induction time is most dependent on patient factors, this study finds. Of 15,823 cases analyzed, predictors of later patient induction included add-on case, ASA class 3 or more, neuraxial anesthesia, and CRNA staffing. In 11,093 (70.1%) cases,…

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Editor's Note Duty hour reform had no significant effect on 30-day mortality achieved by new vs experienced surgeons, but there was an increase in resources needed for patient care after reform, this study finds. A total of 1,483,074 Medicare patients having general and orthopedic surgery were analyzed before and after…

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Editor's Note In this study, the most important data-use practice associated with successful implementation of enhanced recovery pathways (ERPs) was data feedback to frontline providers of process and outcome measures. Of 140 hospitals analyzed, 52% reported previous ERP implementation, with wide variations in data-use practices. Feedback of process and outcome…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on November 25 approved a new system for the delivery of tympanostomy tubes into the eardrums of young children without using general anesthesia. The Tubes Under Local Anesthesia (Tula) System (Tusker Medical, Menlo Park, California) is the first ear tube delivery system…

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