Editor's Note In this study, heart failure with or without symptoms was associated with an increased risk of postoperative mortality at 90-days and complications at 30-days in ambulatory surgery patients. In this analysis of 355,121 patients having noncardiac ambulatory surgical procedures, 90-day mortality was 2% in patients with heart failure…

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Editor's Note Using machine learning on electronic health record (EHR) postoperative data linked to the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) outcomes data, researchers developed a model with 163 predictors of postoperative complications at the University of Colorado Hospital. Of 6,840 patients analyzed with the…

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Editor's Note This study from researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found a consistent, strong association between geographic indicators for socioeconomic status and important surgical outcomes. Of 1,573,740 hospital discharges analyzed, adjusted odds of inpatient mortality significantly increased as geographic distress increased across all measures of geographic risk. The odds of…

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Editor's Note In this study of patients with left main coronary disease, there was no significant difference in outcomes at 5 years between treatment with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Researchers randomly assigned 1,905 patients with left main coronary artery disease of low or intermediate…

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Editor's Note Nurses have always played an important role when new health information technology (IT) has been implemented, and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and the changes it can bring to healthcare will be no exception, reports the September 27 HealthcareITNews. Though some nurses may view AI as another…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 2 announced that it will be posting new survey readiness resource documents for its ambulatory, behavioral health, home care, nursing care center, and office-based surgery programs. These new Heads-Up Reports will be available October 4 on an organizations secure Joint Commission Connect extranet…

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Editor's Note In this study of patients with displaced femoral neck fractures, the incidence of secondary procedures did not differ significantly between patients who had total hip arthroplasty (THA) and those who had hemiarthroplasty. THA was associated with modestly better function over 2 years but with a slightly higher incidence…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission announced October 2 that it will be retiring the Leading Practice Library December 31, 2019. These customer-submitted resources that were developed in 2008 to assist organizations in complying with complex standards have become outdated. Newer and higher quality resources are available on the Joint Commission…

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Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on September 26 released a final rule that revises discharge planning requirements for hospitals, the September 26 Becker’s Clinical Leadership & Infection Control reports. Among the requirements: Hospitals must prioritize patients’ care goals and treatment preferences during discharge planning. Hospitals…

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Editor's Note A computer model, which for the first time accurately predicted two of the most challenging side effects of radiation therapy for head and neck cancer patients, was presented September 26 at the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology in Chicago. Researchers from the University of…

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