Editor's Note In this study, survival rates for geriatric patients were significantly improved when emergency general surgery procedures were performed at hospitals with higher operative volumes. Of 41,860 surgical procedures evaluated at 200 hospitals, mortality decreased as hospital emergency operative volume increased. For every standardized increase in volume, reduction in…

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Editor's Note A new artificial intelligence (AI) system developed by researchers at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine improved the ability to diagnose prostate cancer in this study. The system, called “FocalNet,” helps identify and predict the aggressiveness of the disease by evaluating MRI scans. Results showed that FocalNet…

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Editor's Note A new interdisciplinary care protocol for frail elderly trauma patients significantly decreased delirium and 30-day readmission risk in this study. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, compared the care of 125 patients who were treated before the pathway was implemented with 144 patients after the pathway was…

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Editor's Note Machine learning can be used to improve surgical risk prediction compared to traditional risk calculators, this study from Singapore finds. The traditional Combined Assessment of Risk Encountered in Surgery and the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status models were compared with machine learning models in the prediction of…

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Editor's Note A hospital’s safety culture may influence certain surgical patient outcomes, finds this study. A Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (SAQ), sent to administrators, quality improvement teams, nurses, anesthesiologists, and surgeons in 49 hospitals participating in the Illinois Surgical Quality Improvement Collaborative, found that OR safety culture had the highest scores…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on April 2 issued a statement announcing steps toward a new, tailored review framework for artificial intelligence (AI)-based medical devices. AI and machine learning have the potential to transform the delivery of healthcare, with earlier disease detection, more accurate diagnoses, more targeted…

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Editor's Note The increased use of tourniquets, blood transfusions, and reduced time to surgical treatment (ie, within 1 hour) were the main factors that reduced mortality 44.2% during military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, this study finds. From October 2001 through December 2017, survival increase three-fold among the most critically…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on March 19 released its current progress report on healthcare-associated infections, which includes state and national level statistics for 2017. Among the findings for acute care hospitals: Clostridium difficile infections declined by 13%. Central line-associated bloodstream infections fell by 9%. Methicillin-resistant…

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Editor's Note Educating anesthesia providers on the World Health Organization’s five indications for hand hygiene, increasing access to hand hygiene products in the OR, and monitoring  hand hygiene among anesthesia providers can improve hand hygiene compliance, this study finds. Hand hygiene was observed in three phases: Preimplementation, postimplementation, and 60…

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Editor's Note Hospitals should consider adopting a care bundle approach to improve outcomes for emergency laparotomy patients, this study finds. In this analysis of 14,809 patients in 28 hospitals in the UK, reduction in unadjusted mortality (from 9.8% to 8.3%) and length of stay (from 20.1 days to 18.9 days)…

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