Editor's Note A quality improvement protocol at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical campus resulted in a 48.8% decrease in the number of pediatric urology patients returning to the emergency department (ED) unnecessarily within 30 days of surgery. According to a December 2 university report, the initiative has significantly reduced…

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Editor's  Note Aquablation is safe and effective for treating patients with benign prostatic hypoplasia (BPH) in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), according to a video published September 23 by the Urology Times. The video features a discussion with Kevin C. Zorn, MD, FRCSC, FACS, lead author of the study “Safety and…

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Editor's Note With the goal of helping patients choose if outpatient care is right for them and identify the right ambulatory surgery center (ASC) for their needs, US News & World Report unveiled on May 14 its inaugural ranking of the best ASCs in the US. Reportedly, “fewer than 15%…

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Editor's Note Mini-slings for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) are similarly effective to mid-urethral slings over a 36-month timeframe, according to an April 11 announcement from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA). FDA reached this conclusion after an in-depth, systematic literature review of post-market surveillance (“522”) studies required last year…

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Editor's Note Adverse events are a ubiquitous, inevitable consequence of surgical practice, and more must be done to support surgeons before and after they occur. This is the central message of a video published March 27 by Urology Times, in which British urologist Kevin Turner, MA DM FRCS, of Royal…

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Editor's Note A recent study suggests a single dose of intrathecal morphine provides long-lasting analgesia and reduces the need for postoperative systemic administration of opioids after painful open urological procedures. The Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing published the data January 31. Intrathecal opioid administration is an attractive technique in these surgeries…

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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 This study, published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, analyzes 68 closed claims cases on wrong-site surgery from 2013 to 2020. The services most frequently responsible for these cases were: Orthopedics (35.3%) Neurosurgery (22.1%) Urology (8.8%). The most common types of procedures involving wrong-site…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, finds that underrepresentation of minorities persists across all surgical specialties, while representation of females improves. The cross-sectional study examined race, ethnicity and attrition data of 112,205 surgical residents across 18 years (2001-2018) in 10 surgical specialties.…

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Editor's Note This study from researchers at the Urology Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, examines the impact of COVID-19 on surgical cases for urology residents and finds that despite widespread disruptions in surgical care, there will likely be minimal detriment to training over time. Using data from the Accreditation…

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