Editor's Note A multidisciplinary group gathered at an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality conference to develop a research agenda that includes immediately actionable and long-term research strategies to mitigate the emotional toll of harmful medical events on patients and families. The group reached consensus on four research priorities: Establish…

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Editor's Note Though the effects of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) vary, patients recount similar experiences in this review study. A total of 17 studies from 5 countries addressing 5 types of HAIs were analyzed: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, surgical site, Clostridium difficile, Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream, and extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing bacterial infections. Four interrelated themes emerged:…

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Editor's Note Patients with diabetes are more likely to have adverse outcomes after surgery, and greater risks are associated with increasing HbA1c levels, this study finds. Of 7,565 patients analyzed, 30% had diabetes and 37% had prediabetes. After adjustments, diabetes was linked to increased: 6-month mortality (9% in patients with…

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What does it take to get endoscopes dry? That is the question that prompted a new study on endoscope drying effectiveness by Ofstead & Associates (St Paul, Minnesota). “We asked that question after a study we did 2 years ago found that increasing the automated endoscope reprocessor [AER] drying cycle…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles applied machine learning to arterial pressure waveforms to develop an algorithm that predicted intraoperative hypotension 15 minutes before it occurred in 84% of cases. Two sets of data were used to build the algorithm. One set consisted…

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Editor's Note Researchers at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, have identified two protein biomarkers that indicate which total hip patients are likely to develop osteolysis. Osteolysis is the destruction of bone tissue around the hip joint that causes the implant to loosen and results in a revision surgery. The researchers…

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Editor's Note Daily narcotic use before adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery was associated with poorer outcomes 2 years postoperatively, this study finds. In this multicenter analysis of 575 patients, 425 had complete 2-year follow-up. A total of 44% reported daily preoperative narcotic use. Compared with non-daily users, daily narcotic users…

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Editor's Note No difference was found in the effect of perioperative ß-blockade (metoprolol continuous release 200 mg for 30 days) versus placebo on postoperative outcomes between older and younger patients in this study (POISE [perioperative ischemia evaluation] trial). In this analysis of 8,351 patients from 190 centers in 23 countries,…

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Editor's Note The use of nonopioid analgesics intraoperatively was one of eight factors found to predict postoperative pain in the first 24 hours after spine surgery, finds this study that will be presented Saturday April 21 at the 2018 World Congress on Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine in New York…

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Editor's Note Guidelines for stroke treatment currently recommend clot removal within 6 hours of onset. However, a new study led by researchers from Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, finds that clot removal up to 24 hours leads to significantly reduced disability. This international multi-center study randomly assigned 206 stroke…

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