Editor's Note Analyzing data from the National Cancer Data Base, researchers found that rectal cancer patients who had surgery at precisely 8 weeks (56 days) after the end of combined chemoradiotherapy had the best overall survival and successful removal of their residual tumors. This 6-year study of nearly 12,000 patients…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Yale-New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut, calculated a risk-adjusted outcomes measure of outpatient colonoscopy, which shows important variation in quality among outpatient facilities. The outcomes measure profiles outpatient facility quality by examining rates of unplanned hospital visits in the 7 days after colonoscopy.…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on January 15 issued a draft guidance that outlines important steps manufacturers should take to address postmarket management of cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices. The guidance builds on the FDA’s existing efforts to ensure the safety and effectiveness of medical devices at…

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How can OR managers better prepare staff to handle crisis situations? How can they encourage teamwork? Increasingly, OR leaders are turning to simulation to answer those questions.   OR leaders who think they can’t afford a high-fidelity manikin (one that talks and exhibits physiologic changes) and state-of-the-art simulation lab might…

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Many patients may be able to safely shower 48 hours after surgery without increasing their risk of surgical site complications, and showering may increase patients’ satisfaction and lower the cost of wound care, a new study finds. Showering after surgery is a controversial issue. Traditionally, postoperative wounds are cleaned with…

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Emergencies such as the one described above don’t happen frequently in the OR, but it is important to prepare for them, and simulation has emerged as an ideal educational tool. This scenario took place in a simulation lab, not a real OR, so the danger to the “patient” (manikin) consisted…

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OR Manager and ECRI Institute have joined in a collaboration to bring OR Manager readers periodic articles on topics such as medical technology management and procurement, risk management, and patient safety. ECRI Institute is an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care.   Every year, hospitals…

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Is your preanesthesia testing area providing measurable value, and is it positioned to drive surgery toward a new paradigm of care? As government payers shift toward value-based care with the required bundled payment for total joints starting in 800 hospitals and 75 markets (as part of the Comprehensive Care for…

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One of the last things ambulatory surgery center (ASC) staff want to do is transfer a patient to a hospital because it increases the risk of infection and patient discomfort, and it’s a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quality measure (ASC-4). CMS and most states traditionally have not…

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Editor's Note This large-scale initiative, led by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, to implement surgical safety checklists in 13 South Carolina hospitals was associated with improved staff perceptions of perioperative safety. Included were improved staff perceptions of: mutual respect clinical leadership assertiveness on behalf of safety…

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