FDA: Hospira recalls three lots of hydromorphone HCL injection
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on March 5 announced the recall by Hospira (Lake Forest, Illinois) of three lots of hydromorphone HCL injection, USP Cll 10 mg/mL, 1 mL in 2 mL single dose vials. The recall was initiated because units from these lots may be empty…
Study: MIS vs open surgery in Medicare population
Editor's Note In this study led by Martin A. Makary, MD, MPH, professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) was associated with better outcomes than open procedures in the Medicare population. Of 233,984 Medicare patients who had one of seven common surgical…
Analysis predicts costs of adverse patient safety events
Editor's Note A Frost & Sullivan analysis shows adverse patient safety events will cost the US and western Europe $383.7 billion by 2022, the February 26 Becker’s Clinical Leadership & Infection Control reports. These adverse events will lead to an estimated 91.8 million patient hospital admissions and about 1.95 million…
FDA issues warning for compounded drugs from Cantrell Drug Company
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on March 2 issued a warning for healthcare professionals not to use drug products produced by Cantrell Drug Company (Little Rock, Arkansas), including opioids and other drugs intended for sterile injections. The FDA is concerned about serious deficiencies in Cantrell’s compounding operations,…
Joint Commission updates sentinel event stats for 2017
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 28 announced the update of its sentinel event statistics for 2017. Of 805 reports reviewed, the Top 10 events most frequently reported included: unintended retention of a foreign body−116 events (first place) wrong-patient, wrong-site, wrong-procedure−95 events (third place) medication error−32 events (eighth place)…
Total hip linked to increased life expectancy
Editor's Note Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is not only associated with improved quality of life but with increased life expectancy, this Swedish study finds. Of 131,808 patients having THA from 1999 to 2012, survival was 1% better in the first year than those who did not have surgery. Survival increased…
FDA issues Safety Alert for clarithromycin
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 22 issued a Safety Alert for clarithromycin (Biaxin) because of the potential increased risk of heart problems or death associated with this antibiotic in patients with heart disease. A large clinical trial with 10-year follow-up found an unexpected increase in…
Agencies issue voluntary protocols for duodenoscope surveillance sampling, culturing
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), American Society for Microbiology, along with other experts on February 26 released voluntary standardized protocols for duodenoscope surveillance sampling and culturing, which update a 2015 CDC interim protocol. For facilities that choose to implement duodenoscope surveillance…
Study: Efficiency, safety of overlapping surgery
Editor's Note In this study to evaluate the efficiency and safety of overlapping surgery at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, researchers found that the practice does not expose patients to increased risk of negative outcomes. Of 26,260 cases analyzed for surgical time and 15,106 for outcomes, overlapping surgery patients had:…
FDA: Class I recall of certain Medtronic ICDs, CRT-Ds
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on February 27 classified the recall by Medtronic of certain Implantable Cardiovert Defibrillators (ICDs) and Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Defibrillators (CRT-Ds) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of a defect in the manufacturing process. The defect causes an…
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