Editor's Note Incorporating medical scribes into surgical practices to reduce time surgeons spend on patient documentation and managing electronic health records increases the number of patients seen by surgeons and residents in outpatient clinics, finds this study presented October 29 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019 in…

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Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) Surgical Risk Calculator accurately predicted four quality-of-life outcomes that transcend traditional measures of successful surgery and now reflects the expected effects of surgery on an older patient’s ability to function independently, finds this study presented October…

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Editor's Note Surgeons can better understand the effect of a patient's postoperative physical activity on their recovery by capturing passively-collected accelerometer data from their patients’ smartphones, finds this study presented October 28 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019 in San Francisco. Patients enrolled in the study downloaded…

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Editor's Note Delaying a cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis more than 3 days after admission increased the rate of complications, hospital readmissions, and lengthened hospital stays, in this study presented October 30 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019 in San Francisco. Using 2012 to 2016 ACS National Surgical…

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Editor's Note A state-mandated policy restricting opioid prescriptions in Vermont greatly reduced opioid prescribing and use by surgical patients at the University of Vermont Medical Center without affecting patient satisfaction with their postoperative pain management, finds this study presented October 29 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 29 announced that the deadline for onboarding to the Direct Data Submission (DDS) Platform for submission of CY 2019 electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs) is December 20. Organizations that submitted CY 2018 eCQMs through the DDS Platform do not need to be onboarded…

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Editor's Note An acute-care surgery model that caps surgeon call shifts at 12 hours instead of 24 hours for covering surgical emergencies has led to shorter hospital stays, lower infection rates, and lower overall costs for patients with acute appendicitis, finds this study presented October 30 at the American College…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 29 announced a new “Quick Safety 51: Proactive prevention of maternal death from maternal hemorrhage,” which provides background information on strategies outlined in a new maternal hemorrhage standard. The new Provision of Care, Treatment, and Services (PC) standard, "PC.06.01.01: Reduce the likelihood of…

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Editor's Note Artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of a machine-learned algorithm correctly triaged the vast majority of postoperative patients to the ICU, in this pilot study presented October 29 at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress 2019 in San Francisco. The algorithm included 87 clinical variables and 15…

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Editor's Note In this study, machine learning algorithms accurately identified cancer patients who were at risk of 6-month mortality. Of 26,525 cancer patients analyzed, machine learning models based on structured electronic health record data accurately predicted short-term mortality risk with good discrimination and positive predictive value. When the gradient boosting…

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