Editor's Note The Joint Commission and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on September 11 released new infection prevention resources for podiatry and orthopedic and pain management settings. Free resources include: Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Podiatry Settings (available now). Guide to Infection Prevention in Orthopedic and Pain Management…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has taken steps to ensure that medical device manufacturers do as much as possible to defend against hacking and other threats to their devices, according to a new report from the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General. The…

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Editor's Note Automated performance metrics can distinguish surgeon expertise during anastomoses and create an objective, standardized way to train new surgeons, this study finds. Researchers used a data recorder plugged into a robotic surgery system to evaluate expert and novice surgeons’ movements for 70 vesicourethral anastomoses (total of 1,745 stitches)…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 10 posted the announcement by Pharm D Solutions, LLC, (Houston, Texas) that it had voluntarily issued a recall of all sterile compounded drugs because of a potential lack of sterility. The company says concerns about practices at the pharmacy that…

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Editor's Note Physician burnout was linked to a higher risk of patient safety incidents, lower patient satisfaction, and poorer care in this study. This meta-analysis of 47 studies involving more than 40,000 physicians, found that physician burnout was associated with double the odds for involvement in patient safety incidents and…

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Editor's Note Limited evidence exists about the comparative effectiveness and safety of bariatric surgical procedures in Medicare patients, this review study finds. Of 16 studies analyzed, researchers found that bariatric surgery overall, and in particular Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), sleeve gastrectomy (SG), and adjustable gastric banding (AGB) appeared to be…

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Editor's Note Seven healthcare systems representing 500 US hospitals are forming Civica Rx, a nonprofit company that will manufacturer generic drugs, in an effort to combat shortages and skyrocketing prices, cnbc.com reported September 6. The company, which is teaming up Intermountain Healthcare, the Mayo Clinic, HCA Healthcare, and four others,…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on September 5 announced it has refined its scoring for high-level disinfection (HLD) and sterilization to focus on process steps that post the highest risk to patients if they fail. The new scoring revisions apply to: soiled instruments enzymatic solution transportation of instruments instruments in…

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Editor's Note This interim analysis of the first year of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) bundled payment model finds that CJR may reduce institutional postacute care. Of  75 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) that were assigned the bundled payment model and 121 control MSAs, the mean percentage of discharges…

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Editor's Note The Massachusetts state regulation of 1:1 or 2:1 patient-to-nurse staffing ratios in intensive care units (ICUs), as guided by patient complexity scores, was not linked with either increased nurse staffing or changes in patient outcomes, this study finds. Examining records from 246 medical centers nationwide, and comparing patient…

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