Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) represents a transformative approach in modern surgical care, emphasizing evidence-based, multidisciplinary protocols to optimize patient recovery. Spanning decades, ERAS has grown from a novel concept into a global standard for perioperative care, with benefits that include shorter hospital stays, fewer complications, and reduced healthcare costs.…

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Editor's Note During the past few years, US hospitals have improved significantly in reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), adhering to hand hygiene best practices, and preventing medical errors, according to the fall 2024 Hospital Safety Grades from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit focused on patient safety. Released November 15, the rankings…

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Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has recognized 77 US hospitals for “exceptional surgical outcomes” in 2023 based on performance metrics tracked as part of the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP). According to an October 30 ACS announcement, these hospitals were selected from among 609 eligible…

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Editor's Note Research published in the American Journal of Infection Control finds that inadequate infection prevention and control (IP) staffing is associated with higher rates of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), including central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), Clostridioides difficile infections, and colon surgical site infections.  Medical Xpress…

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Editor's Note Patients prescribed a glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist (GLP-1) showed higher postoperative infection rates after ankle-fusion procedures in a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society. Healio reported the news September 20.   Conducted by a team at the Milton S. Hershey Medical…

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Editor's Note According to this report published by The Leapfrog Group this month, hospitals in the US have significantly improved hand hygiene compliance, with 74% meeting the Leapfrog Hand Hygiene Standard in 2023, up from 11% in 2020. Among other factors, the report attributes this improvement to increased use of…

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Editor's Note Research shows antibiotic-resistant infections could lead to 8.2 million deaths annually by 2050, representing a 75% increase from current rates, according to a September 17 article in HealthDay. Published in the Lancet, the new study highlights the growing threat of growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), predicting that…

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Editor's Note An American Hospital Association (AHA) analysis of data from Vizient reveals that hospital performance levels in the first quarter of this year was on par with performance prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite patients exhibiting more significant healthcare needs. Released this month, the report analyzes data from 2019…

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Editor’s Note The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is advocating for clearer reprocessing instructions for medical devices to improve patient safety and efficiency, Outpatient Surgery Magazine August 19 reports. Many current instructions for use (IFUs) are considered overly complex, outdated, and difficult to interpret, especially for…

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Editor's Note Research led by the University of Southern California and published in the journal Advances in Wound Care showed new technology using fluorescent light has proven effective in detecting bacteria missed during standard wound cleaning, US News & World Report August 30 reports. In a review of 26 medical studies,…

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