Editor's Note This study from the UK found that a patient-to-nurse ratio of no more than six patients per nurse on medical wards was associated with 20% lower patient mortality than when each nurse was responsible for at least 10 patients. Results also showed a 17% reduction in mortality with…

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Editor's Note Pneumonia, cardiovascular, and surgery patients whose treatments were entered into a fully electronic health record (EHR) were between 17% and 30% less likely to experience in-hospital adverse events, this study finds. Among the findings: Pneumonia patients had 35% lower odds of adverse drug events, 34% lower odds of…

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Editor's Note Women who had robotically assisted hysterectomies were 24% to 32% more likely to return to the hospital for follow-up care, including readmission, emergency department care, or an outpatient department procedure, finds this study. Common reasons for follow-up care included: surgical complications hospital-acquired infections postoperative pain pulmonary embolisms digestive…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on February 9 posted sentinel event-related data reported from accredited organizations. The top five types of sentinel events reported in 2015 were: Unintended retention of a foreign body (116 events) Wrong-patient, wrong-site, wrong-procedure (111 events) Falls (95 events) Suicide (95 events) Op/postop complication (76 events).…

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Editor's Note Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, is the first and only center in the US to be approved by the United Network for Organ Sharing to perform HIV-positive to HIV-positive organ transplants. The hospital will be the first in the nation to do an HIV-positive to HIV-positive kidney transplant and…

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Editor's Note The American Society of Anesthesiologists and Premiere on February 9 announced results from the first phase of the Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) learning collaborative. The collaborative included 44 healthcare organizations that piloted and evaluated the PSH model from July 2014 through November 2015. Many members of the collaborative…

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Editor's Note Denver's Swedish Medical Center is asking some 2,900 surgical patients to get tested for HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C after finding that an OR employee may have stolen narcotics, the February 3 Denver Post reports. Surgical technologist, 28-year-old Rocky Allen worked in the OR from August 17,…

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Editor's Note Depending on which hospital a patient goes to for a low-risk surgical procedure, he or she may be 2.4 times more or less likely to be sent for preoperative blood work, this study finds. Researchers found that overall, unnecessary preoperative lab tests (eg, complete blood count, blood clotting…

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Editor's Note Implementation of a surgical safety checklist was associated with a statistically significant 27% reduction in 90-day all cause postoperative mortality, while 30-day mortality remained unchanged in this study. The checklist was also associated with a reduction in length of stay but not 30-day readmission rates. This is the…

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Editor's Note The American Pain Society, American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, and the American Society of Anesthesiologists have issued a new guideline on the “Management of Postoperative Pain.” The guideline provides recommendations that address aspects of postoperative pain management, including: preoperative education perioperative pain management planning use…

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