Editor's Note Though needlestick injuries and exposure to bloodborne pathogens continue to be significant hazards for surgeons and nurses, concern about risk is declining, and the true conversion risk is underestimated, this study finds. A survey was distributed to 358 medical students and 247 department of surgery staff at an…

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Editor's Note Postoperative mortality rises as the day of the week of elective surgery approaches the weekend and is higher after admission for urgent/emergent surgery on the weekend, this meta-analysis from the University of Calgary finds. The analysis included 10 studies that involved about 6.7 million patients having elective procedures…

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Editor's Note In this survey, most respondents chose surgical rather than nonsurgical treatment for acute appendicitis. Of 1,728 respondents, 85.8% chose laparoscopic appendectomy, 4.9% chose open appendectomy, and 9.4% chose antibiotics alone as treatments for themselves. For their child, 79.4% chose laparoscopic appendectomy, 6.1% chose open appendectomy, and 14.5% chose…

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Editor's Note Dissemination of low-cost patient education brochures improved disposal of unused opioids after surgery, this study finds. The study involved 334 patients−164 who did not receive the brochure and 170 who did receive it. Patients who received the brochure informing them of appropriate methods for disposal were twice as…

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Editor's Note The prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in surgeons and interventionalists is high, this meta-analysis finds. Of 5,828 physicians, there was: degenerative cervical spine disease in 17% rotator cuff pathology in 18% degenerative lumbar spine disease in 19% carpal tunnel syndrome in 9%. From 1997 to 2015, the prevalence…

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Editor's Note Perioperative myocardial injury (PMI) is a common complication after noncardiac surgery (occurring in 1 of 7 patients), and it is associated with substantial short- and long-term mortality (9% and 22%), this study finds. This analysis included 2,018 patients having 2,546 surgical procedures. PMI occurred after 397 of the…

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Editor's Note Children under age 5 having minor surgery with anesthesia have a small but statistically significant increased risk of a mental disorder, developmental delays, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), this study finds. A total of 38,493 children with a single exposure to anesthesia before age 5 and 192,465…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on November 30 announced a final rule that cancels the mandatory hip fracture and cardiac bundled-payment models, which were to begin on January 1, 2018, and implements changes to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) Model. In the final…

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Editor's Note This analysis of 10 surgical procedures accrued into the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) between 2008 and 2015, identified which procedures improved the most from QI efforts and which needed more. Hepatectomy demonstrated the greatest improvement across the greatest number of outcomes…

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Editor's Note Overlapping surgery can be safely performed without risking patient safety, this study from Emory University Hospital finds. Of 2,275 neurosurgical cases included in the analysis, 1,303 were overlapping and 972 were nonoverlapping. The researchers found no difference between overlapping and nonoverlapping neurosurgical procedures in terms of 90-day postoperative…

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