Editor's Note In hospitals that care for a lower volume of frail patients, frail surgical patients have increased postoperative mortality and failure to rescue, finds this study. Of 63,381 frail patients analyzed, 30-day mortality in the lowest volume quintile was 1.1%, compared to 0.9% in the highest. Adjusted analysis found…

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Editor's Note Patients whose surgeons had large numbers of patient complaints about rude and disrespectful behavior had a significantly increased risk of postoperative complications and being readmitted, this study finds. Of 32,125 patients included in the study, 3,501 (11%) had a postoperative complication (5.5% surgical, 7.5% medical). The adjusted rate…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced February 15 that it will now evaluate all accredited organizations for compliance with the January 18 Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ban on powdered gloves. Citations will be listed under Leadership (LD) 04.01.01 element of performance (EP) 2: “The organization provides care, treatment and…

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Editor's Note In this experimental study, alcohol-based skin preps fueled OR fires in common clinical scenarios. No fires occurred with nonalcohol-based preps; however, alcohol-based preps caused flash flames at 0 minutes in 22% and at 3 minutes in 10% of tests. Pooling of alcohol-based preps caused fires in 38% at…

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Editor's Note In this study, Vanderbilt University Medical Center researchers created an automated system to identify diabetic patients, detect insulin administration, check for glucose measurement, and remind anesthesiologists to check intraoperative glucose. Implementation of the automated reminder system: improved glucose monitoring from 61.6% to 87.3% of cases reduced PACU hyperglycemia…

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Editor's Note A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report finds that gaps in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) adverse event reporting system allowed the widespread use of laparoscopic power morcellators for years before their risk for spreading cancer became known, according to the February 10 Mass Device. Immediate Congressional action…

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Editor's Note Risk-adjusted Medicare payments for an episode of surgical care were similar at teaching and nonteaching hospitals for three complex surgical procedures, this study finds. Teaching vs nonteaching hospital payments included: abdominal aortic aneurism repair−$29,946 vs $27,993 pulmonary resection−$25,407 vs $26,813 colectomy−$34,949 vs $30,352. Very major teaching hospitals had…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 9 classified the recall by CareFusion (San Diego) of its Alaris Syringe Pump (large volume pump), model 8100, and air-in-line (AIL) sensor kits as Class I, the most serious. The recall was issued because of a faulty AIL sensor, which…

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Editor's Note In hospital delay of appendectomy in children was not associated with an increased rate of perforated appendix, this study from Sweden finds. Of 2,756 children who had an appendectomy for acute appendicitis, 661 (24%) had a histopathologic diagnosis of perforated appendix. In multivariate analysis, increased time to surgery…

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Editor's Note Advances in critical care have made it possible for critically ill children to undergo liver transplantation with the same survival benefits as children who are stable before surgery, this study finds. At Texas Children’s Hospital, 65 of 354 patients who had liver transplantation between 2002 and 2015 were…

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