Editor's Note Though recent guidelines mandating additional barrier attire for all scrubbed and unscrubbed OR personnel from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Joint Commission, which include bouffant caps covering all hair and long-sleeved surgical attire covering all exposed skin, this study finds that this mandate does…

Read More

About 2 years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. As I researched the treatment alternatives, I became very concerned about the complications associated with traditional surgical prostatectomy or radiation. Then I learned that I might be eligible for an outpatient procedure: high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). Although HIFU is relatively…

Read More

Editor's Note Overlapping, nonconcurrent surgery was not associated with an increase in serious unanticipated events in this study. Of 61,525 surgical procedures performed over 1 year at a large academic medical center, a total of 8,391 patients had any overlap (beginning or end) and were matched on 11 variables. Compared…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study, a significant association was found between exposure to World Trade Center dust and long-term cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in firefighters. Of 9,796 firefighters analyzed, those who arrived first at the World Trade Center when dust was the thickest were found to have a 44% increased…

Read More

Editor's Note In this study, robotic cholecystectomy was associated with lesser lengths of stay and readmission rates than laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The robotic procedure also had greater operative duration and hospital costs. Of 3,255 patients who had cholecystectomy during the study period, the researchers matched 106 robotic and 1,060 laparoscopic cases.…

Read More

Editor's Note The Joint Commission on August 21 posted a reminder for accredited hospitals with electronic clinical quality measure (eCQM) requirements that they must submit CY 2019 eCQM data via the Direct Data Submission (DDS) Platform. The deadline to onboard to the DDS Platform is December 20, 2019, and the…

Read More

Editor's Note Unclear policies and urgent competing responsibilities in the OR create stress, suggesting that the environment is the primary contributor to disruptive behavior by the surgeon, this study finds. Of 314 reports of disruptive behavior from surgical, medical, and other specialties, which included both the reporter account and involved…

Read More

Editor's Note A new surgical risk/benefit calculator that can predict a bariatric/metabolic patient’s possibility of postoperative remission at 1 year for five weight-related comorbidities will soon be released by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP), the American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced on August 20.…

Read More

Editor's Note The move to a new hospital with all single-patient rooms was associated with an immediate and durable reduction in the rates of nosocomial vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization as well as VRE infections, but not in  the rates of nosocomial Clostridioides difficile (CDI) or…

Read More

Editor's Note The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on August 19 announced that it plans to update the quality measurement methodology of the Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings in 2021. The Star Ratings are located on CMS’ Hospital Compare website. While the new methodology is being finalized, CMS…

Read More