Editor's Note Lowering the default number of opioid pills prescribed in an electronic health record (EHR) system is a simple, effective, inexpensive, and potentially scalable intervention to change prescriber behavior and decrease the amount of opioids prescribed postoperatively, finds this study. In this analysis of 1,447 procedures before the default…

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Editor's Note Use of postacute care in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) for total hip replacement (THR) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients was not associated with changes in readmission rates, in this study. Of 176,994 CABG patients at 804 hospitals and 233,955 THR patients at 1,220 hospitals, SNF use…

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Editor's Note Preventability of readmissions changes with time, this study finds. Readmissions within the first week after discharge were more likely to be preventable by hospital-based interventions, whereas later readmissions were less likely to be preventable and more amenable to ambulatory and home-based interventions. This analysis of 822 patients readmitted…

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Editor's Note Surgeon-reported complications in morbidity and mortality (M&M) conferences and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) are complementary approaches for identifying adverse events and informing quality improvement efforts, this study finds. Of 6,563 surgical hospitalizations analyzed, 647 (9.9%) had at least one complication…

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Editor's Note Massachusetts voters will decide in November whether to mandate nurse staffing limits in hospitals, the July 9 Boston Business Journal reports. The nurse staffing question, which is being spearheaded by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, will ask voters to establish patient-to-nurse limits in different areas of the hospital. Hospitals…

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Editor's Note In this study of 34,186 surgical patients in the University of Michigan Health System, 23.1% were taking opioids preoperatively, and the use of opioids was associated with a more negative medical and pain profile. Patient age, tobacco use, illicit drug use, higher pain severity, depression, higher Fibromyalgia Survey…

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Editor's Note In its July Health Technology eSource, ECRI Institute reported on Boston Medical Center winning the 2018 Health Devices Achievement Award for its pulmonary care app. The ICOUGH Recovery app promotes better engagement with and adherence to the hospital’s recommended postoperative pulmonary care protocol, which focuses on: (I)ncentive spirometry…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration announced on July 10 that it was requiring labeling changes for fluoroquinolone antibiotics because they may cause significant decreases in blood sugar and mental health side effects. The labels will add that low blood sugar levels can lead to coma and make the…

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Editor's Note In this study, cataract surgery was associated with a patient’s reduced subsequent risk of being in a serious traffic crash as a driver. This analysis of 559,546 patients who had cataract surgery in at least one eye found that the crash rate decreased from 2.36 to 2.14 per…

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Editor's Note Patients assessed in hospital-based emergency departments (EDs) were 20% more likely to be admitted than patients at freestanding EDs, this study finds. Data for the 3,230 patient study, were collected from 2015 Cleveland Clinic statistics of its tertiary hospital-based ED and two of its freestanding EDs. Of 1,708…

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