Planning for volume growth and adopting best business practices for the perioperative environment were overarching themes at the 2020 OR Business Management Conference (ORBMC) in late January. Leading healthcare industry clinicians and experts offered fresh insights into competing in the burgeoning outpatient surgery market and persuading stakeholders to switch to…

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Data breaches in the healthcare setting are on the rise, according to recent federal statistics. In November 2019, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Civil Rights reported that 29 data breaches affecting 570,565 patients took place, a notable rise from the more than 311,000 people…

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Over the last 5 years, the perioperative surgical home (PSH) model has attracted increasing interest from OR directors, anesthesiologists, and surgeons. This team-based, patient-centered approach coordinates all phases of surgical care, from preoperative assessment through intraoperative care and postdischarge recovery. According to the American Society of Anesthesiologists, PSH initiatives have…

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Virginia Commonwealth University Health System (VCU Health) in Richmond is a Magnet facility, and as such we continually examine innovative ideas to improve the quality, safety, and care of our patients. Evidence has linked Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) with better outcomes, and ERAS has become a focal point at…

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Hospitals have long dominated the realms of infection control and antibiotic overuse. Ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), which typically release patients the same day of a procedure, use antibiotics less frequently than other facilities, and most do not have an antimicrobial stewardship program. However, some ASC leaders and organizations are encouraging…

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Editor's Note The first person-to person transmission of COVID-19 occurred between two people in Illinois with prolonged, unprotected exposure while Patient 1 was symptomatic, this study finds. Patient 1, a woman in her 60s, returned from China in mid-January. One week later, she was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia…

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Editor's Note Surgisphere Corporation (Palatine, Illinois) on March 12 announced the availability of its new rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19 that uses artificial intelligence (AI). With advanced machine learning, Surgisphere has developed an intelligent tool that uses three common lab tests to identify patients likely to have COVID-19 infection. With…

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Editor's Note Combining a mathematical model of COVID-19 transmission with four datasets from within and outside Wuhan, China, researchers with the Centre for Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Diseases COVID-19 working group, estimated how transmission in Wuhan varied between December 2019 (before travel restrictions) and February 2020 (after travel restrictions) and…

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Editor's Note The American College of Radiology (ACR) on March 11 issued a recommendation that CT scans not be used as a first-line screening test to diagnose COVID-19, the March 11 AuntMinnie.com reports. Though early reports from China indicated that CT could detect COVID-19, even when DNA tests were negative,…

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Editor's Note This study led by Johns Hopkins researchers provides additional evidence of a median incubation period of approximately 5.1 days for the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Of 181 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (from China and other countries) with identifiable exposure and symptom onset windows in the analysis, the…

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