Editor's Note This study from the University of Vienna, Austria, finds that listening to music in daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown was associated with lower stress and better mood. This cohort study of 711 adults living in Austria and Italy was conducted between April 1 and May 8,…

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Editor's Note This study led by researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, finds that contrary to popular perceptions, there is no evidence of rising surgeon burnout in the published literature. Of 3,575 studies screened (publication dates from 1996 through 2021), 103 (representing 63,587 surgeons) met inclusion criteria. Among the…

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Editor's Note This study from the University of California, San Francisco, finds that patient access to elective surgical procedures during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery phase was limited by disparities based on age, language, marital status, insurance, socioeconomic status, and distance from care. Among the findings: The number of patients with…

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Editor's Note The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) announced on December 21 that it no longer recommends Universal COVID-19 screening for asymptomatic hospital patients, reports December 21 Fierce Healthcare. The new recommendation was published by the organization’s board of directors in the Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology journal.…

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Editor's Note This international sleep study led by researchers at the University of Bergen, Norway, finds that shift/night work was not associated with an increased risk of COVID-19, but if shift/night workers became infected, they had more severe disease. The analysis included 7,141 workers from 15 countries and 4 continents.…

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Nursing was once the most stable profession—that was a point driven home by several sessions at the 2022 OR Manager Conference. As one can imagine, the current staffing shortage was the main topic discussed throughout the conference back in October. However, while the conversation did not shy away from affirming…

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Two major challenges that perioperative leaders are facing today are labor and supply costs. These two areas also happen to be the largest and second largest expense categories at most hospitals, making the challenges even more pronounced. What actions can leaders put in place to ensure that clinical staff are…

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In 2020, the World Health Organization focused on promoting nurses to fill the anticipated need for 9 million nurses and midwives to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly amplified this pre-existing need. Additionally, the “Great Resignation” has impacted technology and healthcare disproportionally, and the University of…

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According to the 2022 OR Manager Salary/Career Survey, many ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) are facing a critical shortage of surgical technologists (STs). The percentage of leaders reporting an increase in the number of ST open positions jumped from 22% in 2020 and 28% in 2021 to 42% in 2022, and…

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Editor's Note This study from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, finds that increased time from COVID-19 diagnosis to having a surgical procedure was linked to decreased odds of experiencing major postoperative cardiovascular (CV) complications. A total of 3,997 adult patients who had a previous diagnosis of COVID-19 and underwent…

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