Editor's Note Critical care bed availability influences whether patients are admitted to intensive care after surgery, but it does not significantly affect postoperative outcomes, according to a study published September 25 in the journal Anaesthesia. The study involved 19,491 surgical patients from 248 hospitals in the UK, Australia, and New…

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Editor's Note A recent study conducted at a tertiary care hospital in India showed concurrent COVID-19 infection on patients undergoing emergency surgery resulted in notably longer hospital stays and higher rates of postoperative complications. Published September 8 in Cureus, the retrospective cohort study analyzed data from 48 COVID-19-positive patients and…

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Critical assessment and rapid response are essentials skills for perioperative staff members, and that goes double for perioperative leadership. Patient-centered leadership is a must. Like the OR, the postanesthesia care unit (PACU, formerly referred to as the “recovery room”) is a critical care area plagued by an influx of new…

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Editor's Note A new app developed by researchers in Japan aims to improve care coordination for nurses involved in managing critically ill patients on life support. The findings were published January 25 in the Japan Journal of Nursing Science.  Relying on the scoring system known as the Nurses' Care Coordinate…

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Editor's Note Video laryngoscopy was found to lead to higher intubation success rates over direct laryngoscopy in critically ill adult patients, an August 2023 randomized controlled trial published by the The New England Journal of Medicine shows. The findings were consistent whether they were intubated in an emergency room or…

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Editor's Note High-performance intensive care units (ICUs) may have better patient outcomes during health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new findings published by the journal CHEST. The study, titled "The association between pre-pandemic ICU performance and mortality variation in COVID-19: A multicenter cohort study of 35,619 critically…

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Editor's Note Using a tube that collects about half the blood of a standard tube will still provide enough blood for a lab test while reducing transfusions for critically ill patients, a new investigative study published by JAMA Network reports. The study, titled "Small-Volume Blood Collection Tubes to Reduce Transfusions…

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Editor's Note This article by nurse researchers at Washington University in St Louis and University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, shows how mentorship can positively affect role transitioning from an experienced RN to a novice acute care nurse practitioner (ACNP) in a cardiothoracic ICU. The authors note the differences between preceptors,…

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Editor's Note A quality improvement study led by clinicians at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, improved clinical alarm management skills and reduced alarm fatigue and desensitization among nurses in a surgical intensive care unit. The study included 115 direct-care nurses working full-time, modified full-time, or part-time schedules in a…

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Editor's Note Capstone projects by the 2021-22 cohort of American Hospital Association’s Next Generation Leaders Fellowship focused on improving gaps in education and patient care. The year-long capstone projects focus on key issues and challenges affecting healthcare affordability, cost, quality, and safety. Among the 2021-22 projects were delirium in the…

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