Editor's Note A study published March 30 in Nurse Education in Practice found that the majority of nurses with less than 2 years of work experience are uncomfortable performing more complex procedures independently. Conducted by Singapore General Hospital, Sengkang General Hospital, and Singapore Institute of Technology, the study aimed to…
Editor's Note Over the last 10 years, private equity has taken over many of the nation’s health care facilities—from hospitals to nursing homes to physician practices—spending $1 trillion and instituting changes designed to rapidly increase profits, NBC News reported April 9. Studies have found that these takeovers can have serious…
From integrating new technology to navigating shifts in care delivery and mitigating burnout, the most pressing challenges for healthcare organizations tend to be multifaceted problems that demand multifaceted solutions. For evidence of that, look no further than the Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2024 list from ECRI. For every risk…
Editor's Note The US Food and Drug Administration has classified recalls of Boston Scientific’s Obsidio Conformable Embolic and Fresenius Kabi USA’s Ivenix Infusion System Large Volume Pump (LVP) software as class 1, the most serious category and an indicator of risk of serious injury or death. No injuries or deaths…
The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced a Class 1 recall on Monday for Abbott/Thoratec Corp.’s HeartMate II and HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS) due due to biological material buildup obstructing the devices. According to an April 16 CBS News report, surgeons first noticed problems with the…
Editor's Note A new blood test developed by researchers in Australia could help diagnose sepsis and septic shock in just one hour, compared to the current multi-day methods. The Journal of Proteome Research reported the findings on March 21. Researchers collected blood plasma samples from 152 ICU patients. They used…
Editor's Note New data show 10% of deaths from percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a common and minimally invasive procedure to unclog arteries, are preventable. The study appeared in PLOS ONE on March 27. PCI is one of the most common surgical procedures. More than 500,000 Americans undergo the procedure each…
Editor's Note Quality of care drops when hospitals move from public to private ownership, according to review published in the March issue of the Lancet Public Health. The meta-analysis uses evidence from 13 longitudinal studies across the United States, Canada, Croatia, England, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and Sweden. Researchers evaluated…
Editor's Note The current method for identifying heart transplant candidates with the most urgent need might not be the best one. In a study published February 13 in Jama Network, a candidate risk score incorporating the latest clinical, laboratory, and hemodynamic data out-performed the current treatment-based categorical allocation system. …
Editor's Note: Complex surgeries at high-volume (“hub”) hospitals are less likely to result in death or serious morbidity (DSM) than other hospitals within a system (“spokes”), the American Journal of Surgery reported December 25. However, patients undergoing common surgical care procedures at hubs are more likely to experience prolonged length…