Over the last 5 years, the perioperative surgical home (PSH) model has attracted increasing interest from OR directors, anesthesiologists, and surgeons. This team-based, patient-centered approach coordinates all phases of surgical care, from preoperative assessment through intraoperative care and postdischarge recovery. According to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, PSH initiatives have…
Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCU Health) in Richmond is a Magnet facility, and as such we continually examine innovative ideas to improve the quality, safety, and care of our patients. Evidence has linked Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) with better outcomes, and ERAS has become a focal point at…
Hospitals have long dominated the realms of infection control and antibiotic overuse. Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), which typically release patients the same day of a procedure, use antibiotics less frequently than other facilities, and most do not have an antimicrobial stewardship program. However, some ASC leaders and organizations are encouraging…
Editor's Note This study led by Johns Hopkins researchers provides additional evidence of a median incubation period of approximately 5.1 days for the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Of 181 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (from China and other countries) with identifiable exposure and symptom onset windows in the analysis, the…
Editor's Note This study of Medicare patients at 340 teaching hospitals and matched patient controls at 2,444 nonteaching hospitals found that as risk of mortality increased, the mortality benefit of treatment at teaching hospitals also increased, though with marginally higher costs. Included in the analysis were 86,751 pairs of general,…
Editor's Note The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 9 released two interoperability rules, which will give patients direct access to their healthcare data. These rules mark the most extensive healthcare data sharing policies the federal government has implemented, requiring public and private entities to share…
Editor's Note A system-wide, multipronged pain management and opioid reduction program significantly reduced postoperative opioid discharge prescriptions written for more than 5 days, this study finds. Surgeon education, monitoring, and incentives lead to a shift from longer-term to shorter-term prescriptions for patients after surgery, reducing postoperative opioid prescriptions of more…
Editor's Note The Risk Analysis Index (RAI) frailty screening tool, which was previously validated in the VA health system, can be efficiently implemented in multispecialty, multihospital healthcare systems to predict adverse postoperative outcomes, including mortality, readmission, and extended hospital stays, this study finds. From July 1 to December 31, 2016,…
Editor's Note This study from Linda Aiken, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, found that high levels of nurse burnout are associated with lower patient satisfaction. In this analysis of nurse burnout and patient satisfaction in 463 hospitals in four states, 50% of the hospitals where burnout…
Editor's Note Common definitions of malnutrition do not apply to all cancers, and the best approach for surgeons to identify malnourished cancer patients preoperatively is specifically related to the type of cancer the patient has, this study finds. Of 205,840 major cancer surgical procedures for six different cancers analyzed: 16%…
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