Are there nursing characteristics such as certification status or educational attainment that impact surgical site infection rates? The answer to questions such as this may provide evidence of modifiable factors that could lessen surgical site infections (SSIs) and thus decrease the financial and emotional impact from these adverse events. The…

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Editor's Note In this study, major teaching hospital status was associated with lower mortality rates for common medical and surgical conditions, compared with nonteaching hospitals. The analysis of 21.4 million hospitalizations of Medicare patients at 4,483 hospitals (250 major teaching, 894 minor teaching, and 3,339 nonteaching) found that 30-day mortality…

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Editor's Note Training surgeons in bleeding control techniques so they can, in turn, teach the general public is an effective way to disseminate bleeding control knowledge and skills, finds this study. Of 341 surgeons who were trained and surveyed at the 2016 American College of Surgeons (ACS) Congress, 93.79% agreed…

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Editor's Note Contrary to claims that overlapping surgeries are dangerous or harmful to patients, they were not found to be associated with worse patient outcomes in this study presented April 25 at the 2017 American Association of Neurological Surgeons Annual Scientific Meeting in Los Angeles. The analysis included 14,872 neurosurgical…

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Editor's Note A survey of public perceptions of overlapping surgery found that only a small minority of the general public is aware of the practice. Of 1,454 respondents, 56 (3.9%) were aware of overlapping surgery, and 440 (31%) supported or strongly supported the practice. The majority believed attending surgeons should…

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Editor's Note Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) graduate medical students will now receive part of their resident training at MEDARVA Healthcare’s ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in Richmond, the April 19 Virginia Business reports. Residents in eight programs will rotate through Stony Point Surgery Center with VCU surgeons who use the facility.…

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Editor's Note This study finds that video-based coaching is feasible for supplementing intraoperative teaching of residents to perform surgery. Teaching in a video-based coaching session was compared with teaching points made during a corresponding OR case. Teaching in video-based coaching sessions was more resident centered. Surgeons were more inquisitive about…

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Editor's Note An 8-minute module can be deployed in clinical and nonclinical settings to train a large workforce in hemorrhage control, this study finds. In response to active shooter and mass casualty incidents, researchers at UnityPoint Health, Des Moines, Iowa, wanted to see if they could take important information from…

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Traditionally, nursing students have had little exposure to the perioperative setting, creating a challenge for OR leaders seeking to build the future workforce. How can they spark interest in the OR, if students haven’t experienced it? One way is for hospitals to partner with schools of nursing. Two innovative programs…

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Here’s a question to ponder: If a dozen oranges went up in price as fast as healthcare prices between 1945 and 2009, what would they have cost in 2009? It’s the kind of question you might expect from someone interested in both healthcare and business. David Chin, MD, MBA, likes…

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