It is easy to overlook the sizable effort required to ensure that instrumentation and supplies are available to surgeons in the OR when needed, in the right amount, and in the right condition. Though sterile processing may not be the most glamorous element of a hospital or surgery center, it…

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Editor's Note Analyzing data on nearly 4,500 acute-care facilities, Johns Hopkins researchers found that the hospitals with the highest rates of readmissions were more likely to show better mortality scores. Data on mortality and hospital readmissions used by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sometime fail to tell…

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Editor's Note Children who played games on an Apple iPad before surgery had a reduction in their stress levels equal to the effect of taking a sedative, according to a study presented at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists in Hong Kong. In addition, parental satisfaction and quality of anesthesia induction…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 1 issued a Safety Alert for Baxter International’s (Deerfield, Illinois) Vascu-Guard Peripheral Vascular Patch. The FDA has received multiple adverse event reports associated with use of the Vascu-Guard patch during carotid endarterectomy, including intraoperative or postoperative bleeding and hematomas as…

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Editor's Note In this study of patients discharged from two tertiary-quaternary hospitals and one community hospital, researchers found no appreciable or consistent improvement in hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), mortality, or length of stay from 2006 and 2012. During this time, total charges declined by 11% for bloodstream infection and 13% for…

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Editor's Note Bariatric surgical patients in the Veterans Administration health care system lost substantially more weight than nonsurgical patients and sustained most of the weight loss in the long term, this study finds. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) induced significantly more weight loss than sleeve gastrectomy (SG) or adjustable gastric banding…

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Editor's Note Patient and hospital factors were associated with readmissions after pediatric surgical procedures in this study. Factors associated with readmissions included: patients with an emergency department visit within about 1 year before surgery American Society of Anesthesiologists Class IV or greater Hispanic ethnicity late-day or holiday/weekend discharges. Most factors…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 26 recommended testing of all donated blood and blood components for the Zika virus in the US and its territories. Because of much uncertainty about the nature and extent of Zika virus transmission, testing the entire blood supply will help…

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Editor's Note In this study, the preponderance of medical evidence supports Center of Excellence accreditation for bariatric surgery centers. This meta-analysis analyzed 13 studies that included more than 1.5 million patients. Among the benefits of accreditation: 10 studies found a substantial benefit for risk-adjusted outcomes 6 studies reported a considerable…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 25 issued a Safety Alert for practitioners using programmable syringe pumps to infuse medications and solutions at low rates (eg, less than 5 mL/hour, and especially at less than 0.5 mL/hour). The FDA has received more than 300 reports that…

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